Dreams in the Dark
by Mad MOAI
Summary: NaNoWriMo 2012 - In a world where gijinka replace the need for Poké Balls, a Pokémon Coordinator's life turns upside down when she is forced to walk the path of a Trainer in order to foil Team Galactic's evil intentions, as well as save her closest Pokémon's home from total destruction.
1. Prologue

The ocean churned gently beneath the bow of the boat, blowing a cool, refreshing breeze onto the tiny coast of the island. I stared into its depths, mesmerized by the deep blue color and the perpetual motion. For some reason, the sea here seemed more welcoming than it did back home in Canalave City.

"Nice place for a picnic," I commented absently. Thus I remembered why I was here, and turned back to look at my parents. As soon as the thought of food had entered my mind, I recalled how anxious I was for a good outdoor lunch.

We headed a short distance into the trees and encountered a small clearing perfect for spreading a blanket. However, being an eleven-year-old at the time, I had no desire to help with the setup. Instead, I continued deeper into the woods to explore.

All I could hear was the soft wind through the branches. Strangely, no bird Pokémon seemed to live here; if they did, none of them had a voice. The light filtering through the leaves and needles soon faded, and my vision grew poor. Just as my brain told me to turn back, I ran headlong into a tree.

At least, I thought it was a tree initially. After stepping back and recovering from the shock of the collision, I noticed that this was no tree, but a living being. It was difficult to tell in the shadows, but from what I could gather it was a man. He had round blue eyes the color of freshly frozen ice, and hair with the color and consistency of smoke. He appeared to be wearing a dark cape, but it was hard to see exactly who he was in the gloom; only his eyes reflected much light back to me.

"Oh, excuse me. Hello there," I greeted cautiously, in an attempt to be a polite little girl. I gave a quick bow of my head to accentuate. "You're not lost, are you?"

He shook his head slowly, but gave no audible answer. He kept his gaze on me the entire time.

"My name is Lucidia. I'm pleased to meet you. What's your name?" Hopefully now he would respond.

Despite my invitation to speak, he uttered only one word: "Akumu."

"Would you like to have a picnic with us, Akumu?" I offered with a faint smile. "That way you won't have to be alone in the dark anymore."

A dim light illuminated his unblinking icy eyes. I thought that he would definitely accept and follow me back to the clearing, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, he vanished.

Yes, _vanished._ In an instant, into the shadows of the trees. I had never seen a person disappear so suddenly. I didn't know what to think – maybe I was offended that he refused so blatantly, or relieved that I didn't have to talk to a stranger anymore. Either way I spent a few moments staring into the space where Akumu had been. When I finally gathered my senses, I turned on my toes and headed back. Perhaps if I forgot about the experience, I could pretend that it never happened.

The lunch was delicious, accompanied by sunlight and the ocean breeze, although now I can't even recall what I ate. I had returned home later that night, as the boat trip lasted an hour or two. I never figured out why my family had decided to take me somewhere so isolated, but I was grateful to be able to spend the day in relaxation.

The evening was not such a normal experience. I was studying in my bedroom – not for school, but for Pokémon. I was pursuing the career of being a Coordinator, of taking Pokémon companions to faraway places in order to compete in beauty and conformation. Of course, I couldn't just head out and decide to go to a contest; I needed an idea of what I would do at the actual contest first.

I had been immersed in a book for a few minutes, scanning over the procedure of Contests, when a familiar voice echoed from behind me: "It's awfully quiet in here."

I started out of my chair and turned around, expecting to see my father standing there. Instead, a strange young man was sitting cross-legged on the floor and leaning against my bedpost. He couldn't have been older than sixteen at the most; he had watchful, icy blue eyes and hair the color of smoke that hung over his face, concealing the entire right side. In contrast, all of his clothes were an ominous, sooty black, apart from a bright crimson collar encircling his neck. He was entirely unfamiliar to me, but at the same time I couldn't help feeling that I had met him before.

"Are you Akumu?" I guessed, standing over him as straight as I could. Maybe I was actually a little bit afraid of him at the time.

"Hi, Lucidia!" He grinned widely and waved one of his sturdy hands. At first glance he appeared dark, but I could already tell that his personality was the opposite. If I were in an anime I probably would have sweatdropped.

"How did you get here?" I questioned anxiously. "Moreover, why do you look different? I thought you were wider before."

"I followed you, just like you told me to – in your shadow," Akumu chuckled, crossing his arms. "It's quite easy for me to do, really."

A strange idea entered my mind. Weren't Pokémon the only creatures who could do such things as hide in shadows? I knew a little bit about Pokémon so far, but it was common sense that Pokémon liked to disguise themselves as mostly human when they were around other people. Perhaps Akumu was secretly a Pokémon?

"Are you a Pokémon?" I asked, repeating the question echoing in my head.

"Sure I am." Akumu rose to his feet slowly, the smile clinging to his lips. I flinched; at his full height he was at least a few inches taller than me. "Everyone calls me Akumu, but my real name is Darkrai."

_"Darkrai?"_ I echoed. "The Pokémon in the legends about the two moon beings? I thought you were only a fairy tale."

"You got it!" he congratulated. Akumu looked as though he was about to give me a high-five. "Although, I really am standing here. You can try to push me if you don't believe me."

I blinked; for being an antagonist in folklore, Akumu was awfully cheerful. "Why _did_ you follow me all the way home anyway? In human society, that's considered pretty creepy."

Suddenly Akumu sank to one knee and crossed one arm over his front. "Because you look like you travel a lot. I figured if I went with you, I'd be able to see the world like other Pokémon. Pokémon like me don't get out of our homes much, but I would really like to move around more without worrying about anybody chasing me. Would you take me with you on your journeys?"

He lifted his freezing blue eyes to mine. They were filled with pleading and shined like snow on a mountain; it sent an icicle through my heart, but it melted so quickly that I wondered whether I had really felt anything.

"Yes, Akumu," I accepted slowly. "I'll take you with me. I'm going to need a Pokémon to help me go around on my own anyway."

"That works out perfectly," he commented, standing up once more. "As long as you keep my identity a secret, I'll be able to do lots of things for you."

"Of course," I responded. "You can help me find another Pokémon… but the hardest part will be keeping you from my mother."


	2. Searching

As usual, Akumu was sleeping in. I don't really have the heart to wake him, though. He always stays up so late that it wouldn't be fair to rob him of his morning nap.

"I hope he wakes up soon," Aleta sighs. Other than Akumu, Aleta was my first real Pokémon. She had found me while I was behind my house, watching the ocean. In fact, she had noticed me standing there several times; curious as to why I would come to the same sport repeatedly, she had approached me. The Alomomola eventually stayed with me as the kickoff to my contest team. She was really quite dedicated; when she wasn't practicing her conformation, she was practicing her ability to use her Heal Pulse move even while disguising herself as a gijinka. Her logic was that attacks from mistaken Trainers could happen anytime, but I thought she was just a little too careful.

"We're not in a hurry or anything." Now Uma steps into the room as well. His long blond hair follows him like an ocean wind, broken only by the fin-like ears jutting out from his jawline.

Uma's arms are crossed as he leans against the wall, his deep black eyes resting on Akumu. "At the worst we'd have to spend the night in Jubilife City. Even then we left a couple of extra days to get to Hearthome in case something goes wrong. We won't be late."

"I know," I mutter, "but I want breakfast."

"We'll take care of him for you," Aleta offers with a gentle smile. "You go eat and make sure your mom remembers where we're going."

"Surely you must be hungry as well." I move my eyes between the two Pokémon, but neither seems inclined to join me. Instead of arguing with my companions, I turn and head downstairs for a meal.

"We're leaving for the regional contest in Hearthome this morning," I announce with a glance at my mother. "We'll probably head out in about an hour."

"You have everything you need?"

"Yep, I double-checked." In order to avoid one of those sappy don't-be-gone-too-long moments, I snatch a waffle and some fruit and bolt back upstairs. Even so, my hurrying is in vain; Akumu is still out cold on the carpet like a Snorlax (although considerably skinnier).

I look at Aleta and Uma helplessly. "I guess he's not getting any of my breakfast."

"Maybe later." Aleta reaches for a berry, and Uma follows suit.

"By then," the Seadra scoffs, "he would be eating lunch."

Eventually, Akumu does awaken from his deep slumber, and within a few minutes I'm downstairs saying goodbye to my parents. As soon as I step out of the house, I make for Route 218, with my team of three following close behind.

Akumu gazes nervously at the surrounding buildings as we walk south. He never quite acclimated to the big city of Canalave, especially at night when fiery amber light pollution turns the sky into fire. If it were his choice, I'd guess he'd make us live in a smaller place like Celestic Town, on the far side of Mount Coronet. The rest of us wouldn't be up for such a far walk, though.

Uma strolls at the back of the group, his eyes more focused on the sky than on the city. He tended to lag behind at a considerable distance. Usually I let him notice and hurry to catch up, but it appeared to be one of his bad habits that was difficult to break.

Aleta is considerably more deliberate about her walking; she always positions herself between Akumu and Uma so that she can evaluate the entire group at once. Though she's the youngest in the group, she is also the most protective. I don't doubt her fighting ability, but I never raised her for it. Maybe Alomomola was just a naturally protective Pokémon.

The moment we set foot onto Route 218, Akumu relaxes visibly. The city still looms in the distance behind us, but ahead is a stretch of soft green grass followed by an inlet from the nearby ocean, which is in turn crossed by a bridge leading directly into Jubilife City. Sometimes fishermen would visit to try their luck with the wild Magikarp, Finneon and even the occasional Gyarados. It isn't unusual for Pokémon from other regions to cross the sea and show up around this Route either. (That _is_ how I met Aleta a couple of years ago, after all.)

Whereas Akumu is stopping to relax in the surrounding green, Aleta and Uma instantly brighten up and make a beeline for the water. Perhaps I haven't been taking them swimming enough. Leaving Akumu to let out his stress in natural land, I follow my other two Pokémon to the shore.

"We're taking the bridge," I tell them cautiously, "because neither Akumu nor I are aquatic."

"Can we swim across?" Aleta pleads, a joyous light filling her chocolate-brown eyes. Uma is already jumpy next to her; he can't seem to sit still. I'm pressured to answer immediately, but I also know that snap decisions could endanger my Pokémon.

"I suppose you should," I relent finally, making eye contact with the both of them. "Just stay together and don't get too far away from us."

"Yay!" Aleta gives a little cheer as she races into the shallows. At the same time, she is enveloped in a white light; within moments, the glare fades and a Pokémon resembling an oversized pink pancake takes her place, swishing her hand-like fins as she descends into the cool sapphire water.

Uma follows right behind Aleta, his humanoid form replaced by that of a grayish-blue seahorse with sharp fins and spines along his back. With his speed, he barely takes a second to overtake Aleta into the depths.

I brush away a mote of uneasiness and turn back around. Akumu is finally approaching, his ice-colored eyes on the spot where Uma had been a moment before. "I suppose we should get going," he sighs, clearly disappointed that he couldn't spend forever napping in the tall grass.

We step onto the wide, level bridge. It only rises a few feet above the surface of the water, so we have a decent view of the cobalt color. At this time in the morning, barely anybody else is here, save for the fishermen who always seem to be most active in the early hours. They're usually too concentrated on their catches, though, so they don't pay much attention to a couple of normal-looking pedestrians.

Being a sunfish, Aleta stays close to the surface; I keep one eye on the rosy tip of her dorsal fin as I walk beside Akumu. The morning breeze brushes us sideways as it usually would; for a moment Akumu's bangs are lifted off of his face, revealing that he does in fact have more than half of one, but soon the wind dies down and he returns to his careful solace of one-eyed vision.

The cloudy morning sun casts not a shadow as the end of the bridge draws near. Akumu breathes deeply as he sets foot on solid ground. Uma and Aleta climb gently out of the water, returning to their anthropomorphic guises. The Seadra stretches his slender limbs, refreshed by his early swim. Aleta is equally clear-headed. She falls into step behind Akumu and me, with Uma trailing her not-so-closely.

The soil beneath our feet changes into a trail and then into pavement; houses and then buildings rise on either side. Akumu regains his earlier edginess.

"We turn north on Main Street," I recall verbally, "but that might not be for a while, judging by the size of this place."

Aleta is looking around anxiously as though she's searching for something. Maybe she wants to go shopping. Then again, I've never heard of Pokémon liking shopping, so she might be naturally bothered by tall buildings, just like Akumu.

Trainers and their Pokémon start trickling out from the surrounding buildings. Some head for breakfast; others exercise moves with their companions. Still more challenge each other to early-morning battles as a more intense way of getting their Pokémon their proper workouts. I rest my eyes on these Trainers briefly; battling never seemed quite as appealing to me as contests did, but it was interesting to watch how it worked out anyway.

Trainers seem so focused on different mechanics: strength, not conformation. Where strategy exists in battling, it also exists in Contests. The methods in which Trainers execute this strategy, though, is simply different. I don't know much about training Pokémon to fight, so I can't go into much detail, but form my glimpses into that world I can tell that there are more parallels between the two than most people might think.

Uma walks past me; at that point I know that I'm dawdling. I hurry back to Akumu's side – somewhere I always seem to go without thinking about it. I guess after staying with Akumu for three or four years, it's more of an instinct than anything else.

Pokémon share close bonds with humans, whether they fight or show off. That's another similarity.

I glance at the sky. It's late morning now – soon the Pokémon and I will be hungry for a snack. I start looking around at the buildings, too; there are a lot of them in such a big city.

Suddenly I collide with another person. At first I think it's just Akumu, so I mumble an apology. However, last time I checked, Akumu and I were walking in the same direction…

"Out of the way!" Whoever it is is in a big hurry, and it doesn't sound like it's for a good cause. Footsteps rush past me, but fortunately I've regained my senses by then.

"Uma!" Hopefully he's paying attention.

When I turn around Uma and Akumu are standing together, blocking the path of some villainous-looking blue-haired guy dressed in a black and white outfit that resembles a spacesuit. He's holding something, but I can't tell what it is because he has his back to me.

"Where were you going with that bird?" Akumu demands menacingly. Within moments, his question is answered when a normal, considerably more normal-looking kid races up to the spacesuit man without hesitation.

"Give me Starly back!" he cries, and though he and his voice are both small, there is clearly authority in his words. Even so, Spacesuit Man isn't about to submit to a ten-year-old.

"Do you _really_ want it that bad?" he scoffs, glancing at his surroundings. "If so, you and your friends are going to have to fight me for it."

The kid turns to me unexpectedly. "Please help me get Starly back."

The bird gives a pitiful peep from Spacesuit Man's grip. I hear a ruffle of feathers and a muffled smack as he punishes it for his noise. Behind me, Aleta gasps audibly.

I turn away from the kid and instead rest my glare on Spacesuit Man. "Sure, I'll get your Starly for you. I'm not going to let some random guy get away with hitting a Pokémon, especially not a fragile bird." For how much I was just considering the bonds between Pokémon and Humans, Spacesuit Man seems awfully disrespectful. The mere thought of slapping Akumu makes me cringe mentally, but I hold my ground.

"So where's _your_ Pokémon?" Spacesuit Man sneers.

"Right behind you."

Uma swims through air as though it were the calmest ocean, landing with a spin between Spacesuit Man and me. He glares at his enemy through hooded black eyes, his fins twitching as he ponders either his option in a fight or how he's going to beat the stuffing out of this guy. My Pokémon have never battled before, after all; this entire conflict will be improvisation. I have no clue what to tell Uma to do, but I suppose that I'll get the hang of it if I pay enough attention.

"All right." Spacesuit Man unhooks a Poké Ball from his belt and tosses it into the air. "I'll choose Glameow."

Unfamiliar with the all-but obsolete device, I watch carefully as a baby-faced grey felid materializes out of the sphere and struts in a circle as though it owns everything in sight. I make a mental note about that Poké Ball – I had researched it a little bit before but couldn't recall any facts at the moment.

Before I can give Uma instructions, Spacesuit Man continues his gibing. "You're behind the times. You still let your Pokémon walk around disguising themselves like that? I should have no problem beating you."

I shake my black hair out of my face, somewhat taken aback. "You're the one who's 'behind the times.' It's been forever since I last heard about Trainers using Pokee Balls; in my opinion they're too small and restricting."

"Those ridiculous disguises are what's restricting. These Poké Balls let me take my Pokémon everywhere with me without muffling its power. Glameow, show them with Fury Swipes."

Uma is evidently still shocked by Spacesuit Man's ideals, because he doesn't even respond to Glameow's slashing claws until they scratch him square in the face and knock him backwards onto his dorsal fins.

"That guy's crazy," he mutters, shaking the pain from his cheek. "No way you could get me to fit into one of _those_ tiny things."

"Uma, smack it with Bubblebeam," I tell him slowly. Hopefully his frustration will be let out in his attack.

Without hesitation he inhales deeply and then spits forth a stream of ostensibly harmless bubbles. Glameow scoffs at the attack, but starts a moment later when the popping of the bubbles proves painful. It's actually a little bit amusing to watch it dance around on the tips of its toes at every stinging pop. By the time the last bubble vanishes, Glameow is clearly seething, every hair on its body standing on end. Uma stiffens as he prepares for a rough retaliation.

"Him 'em back with Faint Attack, Glameow," Spacesuit man commands evenly. Glameow looks very ready to claim its revenge, and is an instant from springing forward when suddenly its legs collapse beneath it and it crumples to the ground.

Spacesuit Man stares at his fallen Pokémon before transferring his eyes to me. "What was that? What did you do?"

"He may not look it, but Uma is actually poisonous," I explain smoothly. "If you don't try to avoid touching those spikes, you have a good chance of needing quick medical attention."

Uma chuckles quietly. Poison was never useful in contests, but now it turned out to be an advantage. I briefly wonder whether Uma ever considers his poison dangerous.

Spacesuit Man growls. "Fine. Take back your stupid Starly." He literally tosses the little bird into the air before scooping up his Glameow and fleeing the way he came.

Starly doesn't quite regain its senses on time, but luckily Aleta is watching; she fleetly steps forward to catch it without an instant of waiting. The moment its weight is balanced in her arms, she pivots and hands it back to the boy. Ruffled but delighted to be safe, the bird jumps onto the boy's shoulder with a happy squeak.

"Thanks, miss!" the kid blurts. "Team Galactic has been around for a while, but I never thought that the rumors about them stealing Pokémon were true."

"Team Galactic?" I echo. "I haven't heard of them, not back home in Canalave. Judging by that one guy, though, they sound like a bunch of crooks."

"They are." Both Starly and the boy nod vigorously. "I guess they never really caused trouble before now. Just keep an eye out for them."

"What do Team Galactic do, exactly?" I inquire, curious about this strange-sounding group of villains.

"I don't know. You'd probably get a good answer asking another Trainer. Thanks again!" He turns around and dashes off with his Starly close behind.

I watch him leave for a moment, echoing the name "Team Galactic" in my mind repeatedly. I had definitely never heard it before, but I had never really looked for any antagonistic groups like that. I guess I would have to be cautious as I traveled to my next Contests; if Team Galactic really did cause as much trouble as it sounded like they did, they could easily get their hands on my Pokémon.

"All right then," Akumu breaks the silence. "We should probably get going again…"

"We should." I force my feet to begin moving once more, and within a few steps I successfully let Team Galactic slip completely out of my mind.

It took us at least an hour to cross the gigantic city. Fortunately we were able to stop for lunch on the way; I can't imagine how much Uma would complain if he had to go a day without eating lunch. The noonday sun was rising behind a gentle dusting of clouds by the time the looming apartments vanished, giving way to a rough meadow dotted with rocks and the occasional pond. The grass is taller in some places, shorter in others – this would probably be a good habitat for some interesting wild Pokémon. Of course, I'm not looking for any additions to my team right now, but it would be entertaining just to see what sort of Pokémon existed other than the ones I interacted with all of the time.

We stay on a vaguely carved path winding through the grass. Akumu again relaxes at the prospect of leaving behind the city. I'm watching the wind whisper through the plants again; I can see rustles of movement where Pokémon might hide. Hopefully none of them will jump out at us so long as we stick to the trail.

At this, another thought enters my mind: the danger of other Pokémon Trainers. From what little I had heard about them, they tended to rush into battle with other people simply upon eye contact rather than asking about whether they had any fighting experience in the first place. Route 204 didn't seem very busy today, though. I would like it if it stayed that way long enough for my Pokémon and me to get through.

Slowly the path begins to take on an upward slope. That's a good sign that we're getting near Floaroma – it and the nearby city Eterna are both on a plateau resting west of Mount Coronet. Luckily my Pokémon and I are used to walking distances to get between Contest halls, or else I'd have a bunch of whining fish on my hands. This is no different; the open-level Contest in Floaroma isn't until tomorrow afternoon, and I'd already been to a few novice-level Contests before in other towns. I'd have to get used to traveling long distances if I was going to pursue this career. That goes for my Pokémon as well. At least bringing them everywhere with me would help boost their stamina.

In the distance, what looks like a sand mound draws closer. Initially I think it's only another rock in the middle of a patch of grass, but as we approach it is clearly far too big to just be another pebble. Only now do I recall that we have to pass through a short cavern to reach Floaroma – evidence that it has indeed been too long since my last Contest.

"Nobody's afraid of the dark, right?" I ask, breaking the long stretch of silence that had settled into the grass. Something about this place just seemed a little bit too quiet – maybe we had adopted a habit of conserving our energy for walking rather than talking?

"It would be nice to have a change of scenery," Uma mumbles. I guess that he's tired of walking – strange for him, since he's normally the last to complain about anything. Then I recall that he is also the only one today who participated in a battle. That, for sure, would have sapped his energy more efficiently than anything else. I decide to let Uma relax for now – I would go easy on him tonight when we rehearsed for our upcoming Contest.

"What sort of things do you suppose Team Galactic does?" Aleta inquires, evidently attempting to start a conversation. "Other than steal Pokemon."

"I can't imagine what could be worse than stealing Pokemon from their owners," Akumu replies, his mind wandering off to search for a better answer. "Apart from killing them, but I've never heard of anybody who has a cruel enough mind to do that."

"I sure hope nothing like that happens," I interject. I'm keeping my eyes on the road; the stone from the cavernous path is about to loom on top of us. It would let out soon, though, and then Floaroma Town wouldn't be more than half of a mile away. "If they do hurt Pokemon that badly, surely all of the Trainers would find out and be persecuting them."

"Maybe they're just too slippery to be persecuted." Uma shakes his head, resting his arms behind his neck as the darkness bows over us.

"That's definitely possible." I'd like to focus more on watching where I'm putting my feet now than conversing with my Pokemon. I've never been one for seeing in the dark, but Akumu has a natural talent for it. I drop back silently and let him pass in front of me – he can definitely be trusted to lead us through the dark if he stays up late enough to practically live in it all the time.

Within a few moments, a whoosh passes over my head, and I hear a faint fluttering. It's most likely a Zubat – notorious for being so irritatingly common – descending from the cave ceiling to go find a meal. Out in the daylight, Zubat are mostly helpless, but evidently they thrive in the dark, where they can consider it nighttime all of the time.

Akumu suddenly steps aside. I notice in time to follow suit, but I soon wonder why. Perhaps there are Pokemon on the floor, too; it wouldn't be very nice to trip over one of those. I remember reading about a Pokemon called Geodude that also lived in caves – it looked exactly like a rock unless you stared at it really hard, so I imagine that people who walk through caves and mountains all of the time have to be extra careful to avoid them.

The floor begins to climb again. Behind me, Aleta is already holding up a small mote of Heal Pulse – a bit of light by which we diurnal folk can travel. Akumu glances backwards every so often; his icy-blue eyes glint in the illumination, and I can't help but wonder whether he would put some sort of spell on me.

I am aware that, being a Darkrai, Akumu has the ability to put people and Pokemon around him to sleep. Normally, he's skillful at controlling this ability, and I'm confident that he would only do it on purpose. I can't decide whether his power is good for protection or just flat-out dangerous. To be honest, I've never seen him use it, so it would be difficult to judge. It's not likely that he would show off his ability anytime soon, either; as always, he prefers that everybody who walks past think he's just a normal human – maybe my travel companion or my brother, but not my Pokemon.

Eventually the thoughts of Zubat leave my mind, and in a moment Aleta's light extinguishes as the sun from outside begins to trickle into the cave.

"Thanks, Akumu," I murmur, quietly but honestly. I don't overtake him again until I set foot on grass rather than stone, and even then it's difficult to stay ahead of him. Not far along the path is a swarm of bug Pokemon I'd probably heard of before, and they don't appear inclined to move anytime soon. Their little yellowish bodies slither over one another as they flow in a group towards some undetermined destination; some cocoons are suspended on their backs, staring up at the sky. It's strange that these cocoons are also Pokemon, but I tell myself that stranger things have happened.

"Where do we go now?" I ask helplessly, slowing my pace to a stop. These Pokemon wouldn't be very happy with me if I tried to waltz through them with my companions without warning. Maybe there is some way to talk to them and tell them to move?

I'm about to suggest this to Aleta when I notice a large bird Pokemon swoop down from a nearby tree, its beak only inches away from the wriggling bodies of the insects. It looks as though it wants to attack, but can't quite gather up the courage to fight so many opponents at once, weak as they are. It occurs to me that the bug Pokemon may as well be poisonous; from my most recent experience with Uma, it's within reason to think that the bird is only trying to avoid a trip to the Pokemon Center.

The bird Pokemon actually closely resembles the Starly we rescued earlier, only bigger, with more developed talons and beak. There's also a large comb of feathers on its head, although for what purpose I can't imagine. It trills furiously as it repeatedly tries to get a grip on some of the bug Pokemon, at the last minute avoiding the tiny spines on their heads.

"What now?" I look around frantically as though there would be someone near who could help; however, we are alone on this route. I'm about to ask Aleta for her opinion when Akumu lunges forward into the swarm, swatting in the bird Pokemon's direction. Some bugs scatter and others start trying to chew on his clothing. The latter he kicks off, the former he ignores. I follow his steps quickly; the bird is returning to attack something, but I can't tell what it is. It flies a circle in the treetops above our heads, and then dives straight down towards Akumu and me. My mind doesn't react fast enough to move my body. I'm about to be dead meat when Uma darts into the scene, smacking the bird away once more. He's brave enough to actually make contact with it, sending it hurling out of the air into a pile of leaves.

"Thanks, Uma." I lower my hands from above my head, and Akumu relaxes visibly next to me. I glance around at the bug Pokemon, hiding beneath the bushes and enraptured from watching the action. Their fellow cocoons stare at us from the trees, some clearly scratched but alive.

"Nobody got hurt?" Aleta asks. She stands in front of Akumu and me and raises her hands, ready to fire up a Heal Pulse if she needs to.

I shake my head. "No, but thank you, Aleta. I'm more worried about the wild Pokemon." I let my gaze drift along the bugs and the trees. Thankfully, there are no dead shells lying on the ground, and most of the cocoons clinging to the trunks appear all right.

Except one. One cocoon Pokemon catches my eye. It's holding onto a tree a bit farther back into the woods, but is still visible from the trail. It appears to have some nasty scratches on its head and on its back; one of its claws is dislodged from the bark as though it can barely hold on. It looks as though it could fall off of the tree any minute, and then it could be prey to any number of bird Pokemon.

Watching my step to avoid trodding on any bugs, I approach the tree where the cocoon Pokemon is resting. As I draw closer, its color almost appears to change. Where all of the other cocoons are a light beige color, this one glints a vivid lime-green.

"Should we do something about this one?" I ask my Pokemon, turning my gaze back to them. Uma is already following me through the bushes – Akumu and Aleta trail him close behind.

Aleta approaches next, examining the cocoon Pokemon from multiple angles as though doing this would tell her something interesting about its lifestyle. "If the bird earlier hurt it, it would probably be best to take it to the nearest Pokemon Center. Sometimes bugs are just going to get eaten naturally, though."

"This one was attacked," I point out, my eyes flicking between Aleta and the cocoon. The bug Pokemon twitches a little as though it agrees, although it doesn't appear to have a voice.

"I'm not sure how much I could do with my Heal Pulse," Aleta laments, her gaze falling to the ground. "I haven't had any experience with exoskeletons. The Floaroma Pokemon Center would probably be our best bet."

"All right, then." I rest my hand on the cocoon's back – tearing it off of the tree without warning would definitely hurt it. At first it tenses as though expecting an attack. I wait for its joints to loosen before I pull gently and let it fall into my arms. Of course, I almost fall flat on my face in the process; the cocoon weighs a lot more than any backpack I could carry. "What's this thing made of – lead?"

"Almost," Uma scoffs, rolling his eyes.

"We don't have any time to waste," Aleta hurries me. "If you need help carrying it…"

"I think just me is enough."

I pick my way out of the bushes carrying the cocoon, taking the utmost care not to drop the half-dead Pokemon as I do so. Akumu stays close to my side, as always – he appears ready to catch _me_ if I ever decide to fall.

I turn back in the direction we were heading before all of this commotion. After not even a minute's worth of walking, I spot the bird Pokemon again – except now there's a Spacesuit Man leaning over it and stroking its head feathers. It doesn't appear particularly hurt, but the Team Galactic member does look disappointed about something. He's muttering to the bird – of course, I can't hear him from this distance, so I can't tell what he might be saying.

I start heading in his direction; since he belongs to Team Galactic, I have a few questions for him.

He glances up just as I'm about to call to him, and flees in the opposite direction before I can even tell my voice to say something. I guess I'm not asking any questions today.

"Right, Pokemon Center." I remind myself where I was going five seconds ago and adjust my feet to take me there. My arms are starting to get sore from carrying around this cocoon; I should probably hurry.

It seems like it takes an hour to finally get to Floaroma Town, even though in reality it was probably closer to ten minutes. The Pokemon Center is the first building I see across the meadow. Without waiting for my Pokemon, I pick up my pace as much as I can while carrying a twenty-pound cocoon; it's not as though they don't know where I'm going.

I push open the door to the Pokemon Center. There are a couple of Trainers here, but none of them seem to notice me even with my noisy entrance. I've never really visited one for real, since my Pokemon don't get hurt participating in Contests. Perhaps Trainers rushing in to heal a last-minute wound is perfectly normal in the world of Pokemon battles.

I approach the counter, where a content-looking pink-haired lady stands examining the walls around her. She notices me long before I'm within reasonable talking distance, and looks as though she might smile even though I'm carrying an injured Pokemon.

"This cocoon got attacked by a bird," I explain feebly, realizing that I actually have little knowledge of what happened. Oh, well – the people who work here probably deal with people like me all of the time.

"Your Kakuna?" she asks, slowly transferring the Pokemon to her own arms. "Don't worry – I'll get it fixed up in a few minutes." She smiles gently and then retreats to some back room.

I exhlale slowly. Despite how easy it would seem, going to a Pokemon Center is actually a little bit awkward when you've never seriously been inside one. Maybe I should just not be afraid of the nurse lady who takes care of Trainers' Pokemon.

The door to the Center opens and closes abruptly. Akumu leads Uma and Aleta inside; in turn, I lead them away from the counter by sitting down at an empty table near a large window. The Pokemon settle in beside me. It appears as though it might be another interval of silence when Aleta inquires: "Are they taking care of it for you?"

"Yes," I answered, nodding slowly. "I think the lady called it a Kakuna, but I might have misheard her…"

"We should probably keep it until that guy with the bird clears out," Uma suggests, folding his hands on top of the table. "If those Team Galactic people are still wandering around here, who knows what other chaos they could cause? The wild Pokemon might not even be safe anymore."

"Surely they're not _that _dangerous." Akumu turns his skeptical, icy gaze on Uma. "There can't be such thing as a world without wild Pokemon."

"That guy seemed completely all right with attacking as many as he wanted, though," Uma presses.

"Pokemon Trainers do that all the time, though," I point out. "Training on wild Pokemon is what they do when they aren't quite able to contend with their fellow Trainers."

Uma hesitates, but a glint appears in his black eyes an instant later. "Training is different from a massacre."

"…Good point." I straighten my back slightly, but Akumu still looks quite on edge.

"Surely all of the world's Pokemon Trainers would find out and oppose Team Galactic, though," Akumu continues, resting his arms on the table. "Something about this doesn't add up. You can't just go around causing trouble and expect nobody to notice."

"Maybe they're just slippery, like we concluded earier," I guessed.

Akumu keeps his mouth shut. His frosty eyes fall to the floor, glittering with thoughts. He's right; Team Galactic does seem a little bit too sketchy to be true. If I had a reliable fighting team, I would look into it, but I really don't.

Fortunately, another door opens behind me and the pink-haired nurse walks out carrying the lime-colored Kakuna. "He's all better!" she declared, setting the cocoon on my lap. "Just make sure he gets some rest tonight."

"Thanks." Getting used to conversation with these upbeat pink-haired ladies might take a while. I let her leave as I stare down at the Kakuna. He returns my gaze steadily with deep black eyes. He really doesn't have a face, so I can't tell what he's thinking… if he's even thinking anything.

"We're going to keep you here for tonight," I tell the Kakuna. A little bit of heat rises to my face as I wonder whether he can even hear what I'm saying. For all I know this could be an inanimate object, and I just went through all of that stress for nothing. Just to make sure, I stroke one of his claws – cold and yet warm, hard and yet soft. In other words, definitely alive. He returns my gesture by lifting the claw out of his shell a little, as though giving me a halfhearted high-five. A little vibration emanates from somewhere within the exoskeleton, almost as if he wants to talk to me.

"It's dangerous to go back outside," I continue. "You know that guy in the weird suit who attacked you with the bird? They're all over the place now, I think."

Aleta leans in closer to examine the Kakuna. "Did you ask him what his name was?"

The Kakuna pulls his claw back in to his body in an instant. He's either too embarrassed to answer the question, or he's saying "I can't talk, you idiot."

"I guess we'll either make one up or find out later," I sigh, resting my head on my hands.

"It's getting late," Akumu intercedes, rising to his feet. "It's going to be nightfall soon – we should probably find a room before we get stuck here with nothing to do."

"Good idea," I respond. "The Contest isn't until tomorrow – we still have time to rehearse and rest."

The Kakuna rolls around a little bit in my lap, as though he wants to join the conversation. It would be difficult for him to communicate just by moving his arms, though.

I hoist the Kakuna into my arms and stand up myself. Akumu wanders back to the pink-haired lady, possibly to inquire about renting a room upstairs. The nice thing about Pokemon Centers is that they are like hotels for Pokemon owners – if you have Pokemon with you, you can stay a night on the upper floor without having to pay much like you would at a fancy tourist establishment. The rooms aren't large, but they're comfortable and adequate for a good night's sleep.

The Kakuna gets his own cushion as a bed; everybody else except Akumu is perfectly fine with sleeping on the floor. Akumu always needs something soft to rest on because he can stay there until ten o'clock the following morning if I let him.

The sunset gives way to the moonrise soon enough. Tired from the long walk, I collapse onto a soft bed without further consideration; maybe I could sleep all night and all day as well. The Pokemon and I would need a good rest for our Contest tomorrow.


	3. Changed my Mind

Strangely, Akumu didn't sleep in this morning. It's almost as though he stayed in the room for the entire night – odd for him, since he usually takes a midnight stroll to relax a little bit. Where most people need sunlight to stay healthy, Akumu needs moonlight. It's only part of his nature as a Dark-type Pokémon.

He somehow manages to wake up not much later than I do. He's obviously still used to sleeping in, but it's difficult to snooze for too long when he's already been resting for the entire night before. Too much sleep is just as bad as not enough.

Akumu spends the first few minutes of the morning gazing out the window at the (once again cloudy) sunrise. He doesn't have to stay bored for long, though; the other Pokémon begin to stir within the hour, and at that point we all move downstairs to get an early start on rehearsing.

The television near the door is blurting random news as it probably does every morning. I don't pay any attention to it, since there's nothing I'd particularly like to hear. I reset my grip on the Kakuna – it's the only Pokémon still sleeping. It's most likely similar to teenagers in that it's spending most of its energy growing, so it needs a lot of rest. I'll try not to wake it up by dropping it. It would probably be safe lying on a cushion, since it's very difficult not to notice anybody trying to steal a twenty-pound cocoon Pokémon in the middle of a Pokémon Center.

Uma refuses to sit down. He stretches his slender limbs and starts rocking between his feet anxiously. Obviously, he's recuperated from yesterday's fight; Aleta isn't nearly as energetic. If Aleta were a normal human, she would probably be one of those fifteen-year-olds who has to drink coffee every morning. This is something I wouldn't want to test; a lot of Pokémon are sensitive to caffeine, and I wouldn't want to make my companions sick by giving her a bitter drink that may or may not supply her with energy in the morning.

"Are we heading out soon?" Uma asks impatiently, now starting to walk in a circle around the table.

I start to answer, but then I glance at Akumu. For some reason he's facing away from me; his eyes are on the television above the door. I have no clue why he would want to watch the morning news, but I won't interrupt him.

"Definitely," I finally answer Uma, standing up as steadily I as I can while holding the Kakuna. I'm about to head out the door when Akumu grabs my arm forcefully.

He doesn't look at me, but his tone is demanding. "Sit back down, Lucidia."

I want to ask why, but if Akumu wants to stay here he definitely has a good reason. I slowly return to my original position on the cushion, letting my eyes wander to the television. The anchorman sounds as though he's talking about a new discovery somewhere. Akumu probably understands better than me; he's been paying attention for the last couple of minutes.

"What's wrong, Akumu?" I inquire slowly, trying not to distract him from his listening too much.

At first he doesn't respond. I open my mouth to repeat the question when he suddenly jumps up from his seat and turns his gaze on me. "Newmoon Island."

"What?"

"The humans found Newmoon Island!" His previously icy eyes are set aflame, reflecting worry and urgency.

"The island you came from?" I ask, slightly embarrassed that I can't seem to grasp the situation.

"Explain a little bit more, Akumu," Aleta suggests calmly. I wonder how she's able to keep her cool; Akumu's furious energy is even putting Uma on edge.

"They're discussing it on the news," Akumu elaborates carefully. "People have been going to Newmoon Island to study it. Before long they're going to treat it like just another development space."

"That's not good," I breathe. "What should we do?"

"My family is in danger," Akumu growls, his eyes unable to stay in one place. "We need somebody of authority to get those humans away from our island."

"We need somebody of authority to get rid of those Team Galactic criminals, too," Uma points out.

"How do we contact anybody who can do these things?" Aleta inquires, although her tone descends, as though she doesn't expect anybody to be able to answer anyway.

"There won't be any strong Trainers at the Contest hall," I murmur. "That's for sure. It would take too long to travel all the way to the other side of Sinnoh and find any."

"We could always try changing their minds ourselves," Uma ventures.

"Would any of those environmentalists or Team Galactic people really listen to just one Coordinator?" I question hopelessly. "This is going nowhere."

Akumu's hand closes tightly around my arm again. He meets my eyes authoritatively, leaving no room for disagreement.

"Teach me how to fight," he commands. This is definitely not a question.

"Fight?" I echo. There's no way I can refuse, but I can't possibly accept, either. "I don't know how to fight."

"Then we'll learn together."

I search my mind but can't find a valid response. I never imagined that my own Pokémon would be taking control of me. Also, try as I might, I can't find a reason to decline. The suggestion is difficult, but it's really the only possible course of action.

I look to my other two Pokémon. Uma appears as shocked as I do, but Aleta stands up quickly. "If that's what it takes, I'm willing to join in," she offers.

Uma hesitates, his eyes darting among Aleta, Akumu and me, and then at last shrugs. "I guess there's no harm in trying. Count me in."

Something gently taps the palm of my hand. Remembering the Kakuna, I glance down; he's lifted his claw out of his shell and rested it on my hand, a smile glinting in his dark black eyes. Though he has no voice, it's obvious that he's accepting the challenge as well.

"Thank you, everybody," I sigh, running my eyes over my Pokémon again. I rest them on Akumu, who appears to have relaxed considerably. "I guess we're cancelling today's Contest, then."

"You don't have to do that," Akumu protests. "I mean, it's important that we take the initiative and solve the world's problems, but we can do one last Contest first…" Flustered, he drops his eyes.

"If we're really taking this on, I'll have to let Mom know," I notified. "I think the Pokémon Center has a telephone we can use, though."

"Should that be right now?" Aleta wondered. "Or should we do the Contest first?"

"I'll be right back." I leave the Kakuna on the cushion and dismiss myself from my Pokémon, making a beeline for the pink-haired nurse lady.

"Excuse me," I stammer, "Could I use the phone?"

She blinks as though she's surprised, but in a minute she appears to recover as though everybody who comes here asks the question. "Of course." Over the counter, she hands me a device that looks like a cross between a cell phone and a watch. She probably saves it for us Pokémon people who don't have those fancy PCs that can store Pokémon in an instant and call another region flawlessly. After all, I don't know many parents in Canalave who would trust their ten-year-old kids with an expensive cell phone that's far too easy to drop.

It's easy enough to use – within moments I get a hold of my mother. She sounds a little bit surprised to receive a call from me, so I try to keep my tone relaxed and even.

"Hi Mom," I begin. "Is everything all right at home?"

Hesitation. "Of course. Why, did something go wrong?"

"I might not be able to participate in Contests after today," I confessed, "and I won't be coming back home for a while. Weird groups of criminals are showing up, and one of my Pokémon's homes is in danger of being destroyed. We've decided that we're going to start learning to battle instead of show for conformation."

Another pause. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, mom." My eyes fall to the ground, even though my mother's not there to look at me. "There are these people called Team Galactic who are endangering the Pokémon around them. I don't think we have a choice."

"Could you do both?"

I didn't think about that. I run the suggestion over in my head a few times. "Maybe, but it would be very time-consuming. Plus, I might have to be in two places at once… so that's a no."

"All right, then." My mother either sounds disappointed or defeated. "You should probably head for Oreburgh City. There's a Gym there that can accelerate your career."

"Thanks, Mom. I know it's a fast transition," I admitted. "But the world doesn't leave much time for questions."

For whatever reason phone conversations seem awkward lately. At least now I'm left with my Pokémon.

Aleta looks up at me curiously, as though she wants to ask whether it went well even though she already knows the answer.

"We should go to Oreburgh City next," I told her, sitting back down next to Kakuna. "She said something about a Pokémon Gym. Maybe someone there will know what she was talking about."

"_Now_ can we start rehearsing?" Uma implored, for a moment ceasing his pacing around the table.

"Of course." I had forgotten about rehearsing for the Contest until just a moment ago. "Let's go outside and get some fresh air."

Akumu nods agreeably, and I lead my Pokémon out of the Pokémon Center. We wander a distance away from any buildings, towards the route from which we had approached Floaroma Town the day before. There are a few trees several feet away, but they shouldn't get in the way of any moves.

"All right, then," I start, turning to face my Pokémon. "We can begin by practicing our routines and then train for battle a little bit after that if you'd like. What do you think you'd like to do for your next routines?"

"I like my Bubblebeam," Uma ventures, crossing his arms. "Aleta, would you like to combine some move with that?"

Aleta thinks for a moment, and a smile alights on her face. "Water Pulse. If we angle the light just perfectly, and aim it right, we could get a dazzling effect."

We immersed ourselves in considering Contest moves for a while. It was nice to think about strategy and forget that there was ever anything wrong with the world. Not once in that hour or so did I ever think of Team Galactic or expedition boats or anything of the sort. Akumu and Kakuna both watched the practice intently, whether or not they were actually observing anything. In short, it was a good opportunity to put our minds to something else.

We never did get around to battle practice, and I only remember this later that night. It gives me a bit of a sick feeling to forget something, but there's always tomorrow. We'll spend a lot of time walking tomorrow; we'll have more time to think and less time to worry.


	4. You Guys Again!

"Finally back in Jubilife City." Akumu managed to sleep well last night; we had to leave Floaroma early just to be able to get to Jubilife on time. Now we're back within the familiar limits of the city. Though we only crossed one short Route, somehow I already feel as though we're a lot closer to Oreburgh… even though we probably aren't.

As we head south along the main street, I let my eyes wander along the street signs. Fortunately there are no other traces of those Team Galactic people like there were yesterday. The city seems about as normal as a city can get.

My eyes rest on a sign pointing in the direction of the Trainer's School. It sounds like a good place for me, since I'm going to have to learn how to battle at some point or another. I'd have to investigate to find out if it's for nine-year-olds, though.

Still carrying Kakuna, I lead my team straight down the street and eventually hang a right. The large building of the Trainer's School looms near, and it doesn't appear very crowded, either. It won't hurt just to take a look inside. In fact, there are only a few people, and they don't appear to be part of any organized class. There are a few sentences written on the blackboard, so I approach slowly. Even if it's basic information, it would still be useful to a beginner like me.

It's a list of status effects that can be inflicted on Pokémon in battle: poison, paralysis, freezing, burning, and sleep. Thanks to Uta, I already know about my share of poison; sleep seems relatively normal, even if it is induced; freezing, burning and paralysis seem like more serious conditions. I take a note of how to treat and avoid each, and then hurry with my Pokémon out of the school. I probably shouldn't be embarrassed just to be in there – after all, everyone is a beginner at some point, even if they are older than the average starting Trainer.

I finally relax as I face east once more. I assume we're going to have a peaceful journey to Oreburgh, but of course such a journey doesn't exist for a Pokémon Trainer. I learn that the hard way.

Just as we reach the four-way intersection in the northeast corner of the city, a familiar voice interrupts my thoughts. "Hey! It's you again!"

Startled, I turn towards the source of the voice. Sure enough, it's the Team Galactic grunt from before, although now he looks very confident that he can beat me in a fight. I'm not sure how he could have gotten so much training over less than twenty-four hours, but maybe Team Galactic doesn't train their members in smarts quite enough. "Sure, it's me. Why, do you need another beating to send you back home?"

"Nope, just the opposite," he replies haughtily. "I'm looking for revenge. Can you fight two of us at once?"

Another spacesuit man suddenly appears from behind a building, rushing up next to his partner. He has the same wide grin on his face.

"Why not?" I shift my grip on Kakuna slightly; I don't want any of the attacks to get to him in the middle of the battle. The last thing we need is another emergency trip to the Pokémon Center. "Searcher and Aleta, you guys take care of it."

My two Pokémon step forward to battle, but before the Galactic members can even choose their Pokémon, Kakuna starts wiggling around in my arms as though he wants something. I can't figure out whether to grip him tighter or to let him fall. I don't have any time to think about it, though; in a few moments Kakuna leaps into the air himself, taking on a white glow just as the sunlight gleams off of his lime-green shell. Just a few feet from the ground, he breaks out of his cocoon, buzzing his strong, translucent wings to float gently to the earth.

Freshly out of the cocoon and ready for battle is a giant insect Pokémon – well, at least, he's giant for an insect. He has the thinnest waist I've ever seen, and also the clearest ocean-blue eyes. Bold black stripes encircle his abdomen. Strangely for an insect, he has four limbs like a human: two supple legs and two flexible arms tipped with stingers that are over half the length of his body. He flurries his wings, buzzing menacingly as he steps in front of Uma and Aleta, his sapphire glare on the two Tem Galactic grunts.

"What happened?" I ask, but decide that such a basic question isn't important right now. "Anyway, it looks like you want to fight, too. What should I call you, Kakuna?"

He turns his cobalt gaze to me. He has no visible mouth, but I can tell from the cyan glint that he's definitely smiling. "You can call me Searcher." He flexes his spears impatiently. "So long as you let me beat the stuffing out of whatever Pokémon I need to."

For the last few minutes the Team Galactic members have been standing there blinking, but now they appear to regain their composure. The one from earlier sends out a Glameow; his partner lets a different Pokémon called Stunky out of its Poké Ball. It has a weird scrunched-up face and a fluffy purple tail, and it doesn't look very friendly.

"Two-on-two? Aleta, you can have the practice this time," I offer, nodding to the Alomomola.

She flicks her fins in acknowledgment, drifting up next to Searcher. Aleta looks warily at the Stunky; she can already tell that this practice may not go like she hopes.

Searcher notices Aleta's discomfort. He lifts his stingers towards the other two Pokémon and smiles again. "Don't worry. I've got your back."

"Enough talk," the unfamiliar Team Galactic member snaps, pointing at his Pokémon. "Stunky, start out with Poison Gas."

I remember the list of status problems I read at the Trainer's School earlier. Poison was one of them, and I recalled that it could be healed with an antidote. The blackboard also said something about a familiar move being able to block any sort of status problem – one of the moves Aleta knew, fortunately.

"Use Safeguard," I told the Alomomola. "Searcher… just do whatever." He appeared to be capable of battling by himself – an advantage, since I had no idea what kind of moves he would be able to use.

"Good choice." The membrane surrounding Aleta's oily skin forms a protective veil around her and Searcher just before the poisonous vapor reaches them. I'm about to breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly Searcher darts outside the shield, buzzing straight for Glameow.

"Take this!" he shouts, smashing down on the felid first with one stinger, then the other. If he is poisoned, he shows no sign of it.

"Searcher!" Aleta calls, her fins swishing nervously. "Be careful!"

The lime-green wasp takes a few steps backwards, still standing protectively in fromt of the Alomomola. "I don't get poisoned," he assures her, "because I have my own poison to eliminate it. "And by the way," he begins, glancing back at me, "for future reference, that attack was Twineedle. It's mighty dangerous if you use it right."

"Who cares about dangerous?" Spacesuit Man scoffs. "It's not enough to take us down. Glameow, show him 'dangerous' with Fury Swipes."

Growling, the grey felid rushes forwards, its claws poised to strike. Searcher braces himself, but the nimble Glameow leaps at him and gives him a good slashing. When it returns to its side of the battlefield, Searcher sustains many claw-marks on his exoskeleton. He is hurt, but still full to the brim with fighting spirit.

"Is that everything you've got?" he taunts. "Come on, I can take a lot more than just that tickle."

Just as he finishes the sentence, Stunky replaces Glameow, although it is not nearly as agile. Searcher anticipates the attack and dodges it by flying nimbly over Stunky's head. "Try again!" he teases, rushing at Stunky with another Twineedle. 'Stab, stab' 0 Stunky flew back to Glameow. Its fur bristled with frustration as it struggled to regain its footing.

"Don't take me lightly just because I grow fast," Searcher warns, flexing his stingers. "I may be young, but I'm also built for fighting."

"Aleta," I interrupt his ramble, "use Water Pulse."

With a deep breath, the Alomomola exhales a dazzling rush of water. As it shimmers in the cloudy gray sunlight, it oozes towards Glameow. The felid stares for a few moments before it's suddenly soaked by the attack and falls to the ground. I guess the rumor about cats being unable to stand water is true.

The Team Galactic grunt stares in disbelief at his fallen Pokémon before recalling it to its Poké Ball. He mutters something to his companion simultaneously – most likely words of encouragement.

"Stunky, go scratch that Beedrill again."

The skunk Pokémon gets close to Searcher once more with its waddling, somewhat jogging gait. It bares its claws and prepares to slash at his already beaten-up torso. As its attack falls upon him, he parries the blow with his right spear. Only a moment of collision occurs before he swipes the Stunky violently to the ground several feet away. No way it could still be cautious after such a landing.

"Looks like we win!" Searcher declares, although he definitely appears fatigued. Even with his depleted energy, he manages to strike a pose.

I step forward, standing next to my Pokémon. "You Team Galactic people stop messing with Pokémon or you'll be sorry when I come after you."

Taken aback, they simultaneously step away. One of them mumbles, just loud enough for me to hear: "We'll never help Boss complete the Red Chain at this rate."

"What Red Chain?" I demand, but quicker than lightning they've already disappeared.

"Red Chain," Akumu echoes, his ice-blue eyes following the vanished Galactic members.

"Do you know something?" I ask, hoping he hasn't been keeping any secrets from me.

"No, it just sounds suspicious, like the kind of thing criminals would come up with." There's no hesitation or unevenness in his voice, so I can tell that he's not lying.

"That it does," Uma agrees. "I wonder what they would use such a chain for."

"No good," I reply. "That's for sure."

We try not to linger on the thought of this Red Chain too much; if Team Galactic gets in our way often enough, we'll invariably figure it out sometime in the future. Instead we make our way east towards Oreburgh City. It would be nice if Team Galactic didn't exist, but the only way to eliminate them is to get stronger. Fortunately, that's what we're on the way to doing.

The Route is relatively easy to traverse; a gravel path marks our voyage from the west end to the east end, broken only in a few places by patches of tall grass. Occasionally a Starly flits out from a nearby tree or grass patch, searching for seeds to eat.

"What other Pokémon do you think live here besides Starly?" I inquire, curious to hear what kind of thoughts my companions would have.

"Probably some Grass-types," Searcher guesses. He's settled into a humanoid form now. He retains his bright blue eyes and reflective wings, but his green-and-black stripe pattern is transferred onto a comfortable-looking sleeveless shirt. He has also found himself a pair of boots as though he knew we would be walking long distances when we picked him up.

"Grass-types?" I echo, somewhat unfamiliar with the term. Now that I thought about it, I knew basic information such as the knowledge that Pokémon had types, but I wasn't sure about the importance of such types, or how they were separated.

"Plant-like Pokémon," Searcher clarifies. "It looks like your companions so far are Water-types, so you should watch out for Grass-types." He turns his cobalt eyes to Akumu. "Your Darkrai friend is a Dark-type, though. The only opponents he has to worry about are Fighting-types and Bug-types like me."

"What does a Fighting-type look like?"

"Normally they're relatively humanoid. If it looks like it would be good at punching, kicking or lifting weights, it's probably a Fighting-type."

I nod slowly, absorbing the knowledge like a sponge. Trainers were supposed to teach their Pokémon how to battle, but for the most part Searcher was teaching me. I wondered if all Pokémon Trainers got to experience a mutual learning relationship with their companions – I guessed that a one-way teaching experience would be a lot more boring. "You're going to have to help me with all of this battling stuff," I tell Searcher, "because I don't really have a clue what I'm doing."

"All right, then," Searcher complies with a smile. "I may be just a Beedrill, but I do know a little bit about battling. Probably not as much as your average Trainer, though." He gives a nervous laugh.

"That's okay," I assure him. "I'm not as smart as the average Trainer. We do all have things to teach each other, after all."

There are a few moments of silence. I glance at my other three Pokémon. It's easy to tell that Akumu is Dark-type, because that's the first word that comes to mind when I look at his suit. I probably could have guessed that Uma and Aleta were somehow related to water, since that was not only their primary habitat but also their main style of attack.

"Let me guess," I begin. "Searcher, you said you were Bug-type, but you also said something earlier about having poison. Does that make you a Poison-type or something as well?"

Searcher nods, and the earlier smile returns to his face. "It does. Pokémon can have up to two types, and there are a lot of different combinations. Learning by experience is probably the best way to find them all."

I turn my gaze back to our path. Unexpectedly a Pokémon has appeared a few feet in front of us. A little bit startled, I worry that I might step on it until it suddenly vanishes.

"What was that?" The Pokémon looked a little bit like a human-shaped fox with narrow eyes, and it also appeared to be wearing some sort of brown shirt.

"I think that's an Abra," Akumu answers. "They appear in my family's stories and legends sometimes. They're often portrayed as tricksters because of their ability to teleport to other places in the blink of an eye."

"Abra," I mimic. The word is short but does have some quality of longevity to it. "What type is that?"

"Psychic," Akumu responds instantly. "Because its teleportation ability comes completely from its mind power."

Again, I absorb Akumu's knowledge. If I learn this much every day, I could be an average (or better) Trainer in no time. Chances are that my Pokémon know a lot more about battling and mechanics than they think they do – and that goes for me as well. All we need to do is dig through our minds and find what information is relevant, and then apply that to our new career as warriors. Perhaps the world of Contests and Trainers isn't as separate as I thought it was before.

The path ahead of us slowly disappears into the grass. In several more feet it begins gaining slope again. Before I know it another mound of rock has risen in front of us, with a giant cavern opening up directly where the path would have been. This must be the way to Oreburgh; judging by the name of the city, it probably is surrounded by stone.

"Ready for another cave?" I ask jokingly. Aleta raises her hands in preparation for another Heal Pulse while Akumu takes his place at the front of the group, ice-blue eyes poised to search in the darkness.

We've barely taken a few steps in when Akumu halts unexpectedly. In the gloom I can definitely see something blocking our path, but I can't tell what it is. Aleta steps forwards with her Heal Pulse to reveal a large pile of those rocky-looking Pokémon I had thought about back before Floaroma. They don't look very happy.

"Geodude?" Searcher moves in front of us, eyeing the rock Pokémon. "Why are they blocking the road like this?"

"Maybe they were attacked," Uma suggests. "The Plasma guys could have come through here earlier."

"That's quite possible," Akumu murmurs. "How do we get through?"

"I'll take care of it," Searcher announces. Before anybody can disagree, he buzzes into the middle of the Geodude horde, stabbing at as many of them as he can with his stingers. Of course, they don't respond well. Though he manages to swipe a few of the rock Pokémon out of the way, more of them fall on top of him and start trying to pound him with their fists.

"Searcher!" Uma cries, rushing into the fray. He shoves aside a couple of Geodudes with his spiky fins and then begins spouting bubbles to discourage more of them. Aleta joins in a few moments later, breathing out pulses of water to drive them away. It takes at least a full minute for the Pokémon to clear all of the Geodudes out of the way, and by that time Searcher is badly battered. The Alomomola immediately pauses next to him. He is moving a little, and his eyes are still shining, so he's definitely not dead, but needless to say he is very fatigued.

"Try not to move," Aleta tells him gently, folding her fins over her right side. In the darkness, a sphere of light begins to glow between the tips. It sheds its illumination on Searcher's lime-greem exoskeleton like a candle on a winter night. After several seconds his wings start to flutter a little, almost as though a motor is driving them. After perhaps half of a minute, he pushes himself back onto his feet with his stingers. His energy isn't completely restored, but it's enough to keep him going until we get to Oreburgh.

"Thanks, Aleta," he murmurs. He keeps his cobalt eyes on the floor of the cave.

"Let's get to Oreburgh City and get some rest," Uma suggests, standing back up. "We can take a nap before we challenge this Gym or whatever."

"We could wait until tomorrow if we need to," I intercede. "We've had a lot of battles today, at least for how novice we are. You all deserve a long rest."

"That sounds good," Searcher sighs.

The team and I make our way uneventfully to the other end of the passage. Akumu keeps an especially sharp eye out for more Geodudes, but they all appear to have scattered in the commotion. The light at the end of the tunnel is welcoming to each of us; it reveals a city cut into a mountain, with all of the buildings dressed in sooty blacks and oranges. A fiery reddish light accompanies the sun in illuminating the streets, as though a volcano would bury the place in ash without a moment's notice.

"This place is a little scary," Searcher stutters. "I don't like fire or rock."

"It seems a little warm to me," Uma empathizes. "And too dry."

"We won't stay here too long," I assure my Pokémon hurriedly. I wouldn't want to be overthrown by Pokémon revolting for their liberalism.

"Where's the Gym?" Aleta asks, her eyes flitting around the tops of the buildings.

"Probably the tall one over there," Akumu guesses, poiting towards a wide, rounded structure in the very center of the city. It is not nearly as geometric as its surroundings, with tinted windows around its circumference that make the inside look forebodingly dark.

"I hope it's not as deserted as it looks," I mutter.

"If it was," Akumu points out, "the city wouldn't be so busy. No gym would turn the place into a mining town."

The Pokémon Center is only a couple of blocks away from the Gym, gleaming a considerably more hospitable orange than the rusty hues of the rest of the city. We descend into the streets and set our course for this building, reaching our destination in a matter of minutes. As we draw closer to the Gym, it starts to look clearer and more welcoming. Maybe someone is even inside right now, battling or whatever Trainers would do in such a facility.

Searcher stumbles headfirst into the Pokémon Center as if it's the finish line to a marathon. Aleta follows close behind, keeping a careful watch on Searcher to make sure he doesn't plop down on a cushion and break something. Uma saunters inside as though he's walking into his own house. Akumu stays close by as I enter, looking like the most normal out of the bunch.

We take a table in the far corner of the Pokémon Center, again near the window. Akumu's ice-blue eyes fly over the city outside, as though he's searching for danger. After a few minutes of watching, though, he appears to relax and leans against the wall, closing his eyes. He still hasn't fought that I can remember, but the stress from the other Pokémon is getting to him and one thing he needs is a good nap away from the moonlight.

Searcher reclines on a long couch, and is probably asleep within a minute. Uma relaxes considerably as well. Aleta is the only team member still appearing restless, and that's probably only because of her protective nature. Eventually she'll have to get her rest too.

I keep watch on my Pokémon for a while, and eventually Aleta drifts off with the others. The rest of the Pokémon Center is relatively quiet, with Trainers coming in every now and then to restore their Pokémon to health, perhaps rest for a while and then leave to return to their arduous journeys. So far, my journey hasn't been all that arduous; it's only my first day as a Trainer, after all. Surely there have to be far more challenges ahead…

…thinking about it is making me sleepy, too.


	5. A Shocking Revelation

"Somebody! There's trouble in the museum!"

A harsh, urgent voice awakes us from our collaborative nap. The door to the Pokémon Center slams open to admit a quite distressed who glances to every corner of the building searching for a reliable Trainer.

"Trouble?" Akumu echoes, rising to his feet faster than a lightning bolt. When it's not eight in the morning, he takes very light naps – enough to get adequate rest but not enough to avoid waking up at a minor disturbance. When something is amiss, he'll definitely be the first to sense it, even if he is asleep. "What's going on?"

The guy who had rushed into the Center now makes his way towards Akumu, explaining the situation rather fast as he does so. "Something's been stolen. A fossil, I think… an artifact… I don't know, I was just sent over here to tell somebody, but it would be really nice if you could get it back… thanks." He takes a deep breath as he finishes the sentence; it's taken a lot of his energy to make his way over here and get somebody to listen to him.

"Which way should we go?" I inquire, stepping up next to Akumu. Hopefully this guy will acknowledge that there are indeed two of us here.

He points towards the back wall of the Pokémon Center. "Go outside here, take a left and turn north. The museum will be on your right, but keep going straight – the thief was last seen running off that way."

"All right, we'll bring it back for you." Glancing back to my Pokémon to summon them, I leave the Center almost as fast as the troubled citizen had come in, Akumu speedwalking close behind me.

As we hurry north towards another route, Uma pipes up with an idea. "Do you guys think Team Galactic could be involved in this, too?"

"That's very likely," Akumu responds quickly, "knowing how much trouble they've caused already."

"Then we'll just have to stand for another confrontation," I tell Uma, picking up my pace slightly.

Searcher, evidently irritated with humans' slow speeds, buzzes ahead as though he's looking for something to sting. That will give us some time to catch up to the thieves; I'm glad to have a fast, mobile Pokémon on my side at times like this.

After a couple of minutes of running we come to the end of the city. Just ahead of the boundary, three men in familiar spacesuit-type uniforms are facing north, backing away from the giant poisonous Bug Pokémon in their path. Searcher glares at them through ocean-blue eyes, brandishing his stingers just inches from their vulnerable limbs. His feet are braced against the soil as though he would lunge for them at every moment.

"Stop right there," I call to the Team Galactic members, straightening my back just before they turn around. "Hand back what you stole and we'll finish this painlessly."

"Painlessly?" One of the grunts, slightly taller than the others and with navy hair instead of cyan, tilts his head to one side and smirks. "The question is: who will be the one inflicting the pain and who will be receiving it?"

The question catches me off guard. This guy has a rather condescending, matter-of-fact way of talking. Oh, well – nothing my Pokémon and I can't handle. "If you don't hurry up and return the fossil, I'll have to thrash you pretty bad. I know you guys stole it – I've had run-ins with your troublemaking friends before and they ran off with their tails between their legs."

"Sorry to disappoint you," the dark-haired Galactic member remarks, "but my strength doesn't match up with that of my comrades. My name is Saturn, and I'm one of the Team Galactic Commanders. I think it's going to be you who is wishing for a painless meeting."

"There's only one way to find out," I mutter. "Uma, go forth."

"Go, Kadabra," Saturn summons calmly, releasing his Pokémon from another archaic Poké Ball. It's a bipedal yellow fox-like Pokémon with long ears, long whiskers and an even longer tail that probably takes up over half of its spine. I wonder how its spindly legs can support so much weight.

"Now, Kadabra," Saturn continues, "use Shock Wave."

The fox Pokémon lifts its hands to its face – only now I notice it's holding an average-looking spoon. Its eyes start to shine like some faraway pair of stars, and a ball of yellow energy forms between its slender, clawed fingers. Soon the energy starts crackling with electricity, and no sooner does it start making this noise that it fires directly at Uma. With no time to dodge, Uma topples to the ground in an instant. No resistance – that must mean that challenging Saturn was really biting off more than I could chew.

Aleta steps forward and drags Uma back behind me. The fox Pokémon Kadabra puts its hands on its hips and makes a face I guess is a smile, even though I can't see its mouth below its narrow muzzle.

I glance between my fallen Pokémon and Saturn for a few moments, wondering if it's worth sacrificing the safety of my companions just to get back an artifact from a museum I didn't know existed until today.

"Are you rethinking your proposal?" Saturn queried, narrowing his eyes a little bit. "If I were you I'd leave us alone so you can keep your precious Pokémon safe."

I frown harder. It really is frustrating to give in to this Saturn guy's manipulation, but at this point I don't have that much of an option. The commander is just plain stronger than me – he isn't somebody a day-old Trainer can take on and expect to make it out unharmed.

"So be it," I sighed. "But I'll come back for you as soon as possible. You'd better be careful that day, because I'll have you on the ground before that Kadabra can even prepare an attack."

"You just try." Saturn turns on his heels and leads his two grunts out of sight, further north along the route.

When they finally vanish behind all the rocks and trees, I turn around as well and slink back to the museum with my Pokémon close behind. About halfway there Uma manages to get up and walk as well, although he's going to need another nap at the Pokémon Center before he fights any more. He's taken a lot of the brunt of fighting in the last day or two, and he deserves a good rest for his effort.

I step into the museum, taking a deep breath to calm myself. Chances are, the people who run the place don't know who I am and won't explode at me for not getting it back. That would be fairly rude of them, if I do say so myself.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get your stolen item back," I apologize to the workers behind the counter, bowing my head a little. "The Team Galactic people had a really strong Pokémon with them."

"Team Galactic?" one of the museum workers echoes. "Don't worry – a couple of cities have been having trouble with them lately. There's nothing else you can do if they already ran off."

"All right." I try to change the subject a little bit away from the lost fossil-artifact. "The Pokémon he had with him was using some sort of electric attack. Do you know of anything I could do to counter it?"

The museum worker runs his eyes over my Pokémon team for a few moments, appearing particularly interested in my two Water-types. "You have aquatic Pokémon with you, who are weak to Electric-type moves," he explains. "Your best bet is to get a Ground-type, which are immune to electricity. I don't know much about that, but you can ask the Gym leader, Roark, and he'll probably be able to tell you."

"Thank you. I'll be sure to track down those Galactic guys eventually… I gave a couple a beating yesterday but they weren't anywhere near as strong as the guy just now."

"We're looking forward to the day they take a spaceship to their own world," the museum worker jokes."

Saying my goodbyes, I lead my Pokémon out of the museum and turn back for the Pokémon Center. "Gym leader Roark," I ponder aloud. "That sounds promising, seeing as we're already planning on visiting the Gym. We'll have to ask him while we're there." I look back at Uma, who is still exhausted from his earlier battle. "But we'd be using a lot of energy if we started today. How about we call it a night and get some sleep so we can start fresh tomorrow."

Aleta, Searcher and Akumu all nod calmly, but Uma is apparently so enthusiastic about the idea that he practically collapses on the ground then and there. I guess that's a yes, then.


	6. Gabrias

The Geodude's arms droop like dry rags, still dripping with water from Aleta's most recent attack.

"You did it!" I congratulate my Pokémon, unable to resist clapping my hands together in front of me. After all, that was the first time Aleta had won a battle completely by her own effort.

"Not bad for a beginning Trainer," the Geodude's handler lauds, stepping up protectively next to his fallen Rock-type. "But do you have the guts to take on Roark?"

"Sure I do!" I answered, grinning widely. Maybe Roark would be stronger, but winning the preliminary battle in the Gym had given me quite a confidence boost. Hopefully my Pokémon are feeling the same energy that I am.

Te Trainer waves me away, and I shuffle my way further north towards a looming staircase. Since I'm psyched up from the last battle, it doesn't appear very tall to me; I climb it with ease, my team following close behind me with equally light steps.

At the top of the flight stands a red-haired Trainer clothed in a warm, pale gray. He wears an old scarlet miner's hat as well; overall his garb reflects a history of working underground. Behind him there are two Pokémon, barely hiding themselves in the shadow of the wall. One is clearly another Geodude, but I try not to get too excited – he could very well be stronger than his forerunners. I don't recognize the other Pokémon at all, though I can guess that it's another Rock-type. His color scheme is mainly dark gray with flashes of cobalt blue, and he looks thick-skinned – both physically and mentally.

"Welcome to the Oreburgh City Gym," Roark speaks suddenly, lifting his hat off his eyes. "I see you've made it this far, but can you handle another ground-shaking battle?"

"I sure can try," I respond quickly, keeping a smile plastered to my face. "Let's see what you've got, Uma."

Again retaining his conformation training, Uma gives a twirl as he lands in front of me, his fins twitching anxiously for a battle.

"All right, then," Roark mutters, and then points with an open hand. "Go, Cranidos."

The grey-and-blue Pokémon switches form and steps forward. He is a small dinosaur-like fellow with a blue case on his head, and little glaring red eyes. His hooked beak curves into a grin as he strikes his foot on the ground, as though he might charge any second.

"Start with Headbutt," Roark commands, his voice even but forceful.

Cranidos launches forward with his head lowered, crashing straight into Uma's side in less than a second. Uma smashes onto the ground a couple of inches back; he is a big Pokémon, but the little Cranidos packs a lot of punch in just its head.

"That hurt," Uma grumbles, slowly returning to an upright position. "I don't think I could take too many more of those."

"Don't worry," I assure Uma, although to be honest I'm losing confidence myself. I could probably faint Cranidos eventually by whittling down its health between my Pokémon, but even that method wouldn't be very reliable.

I'm running through this in my head when Cranidos unexpectedly stumbles, almost falling all the way to the ground before it can catch itself and struggle to its feet. It leaves its beak slightly ajar as if it's going to be sick.

"What's wrong, Cranidos?" Roark inquires urgently, sounding worried as much as frustrated.

I piece the situation together in my head in an instant. "He's poisoned," I explain triumphantly. "It doesn't look harmful, but Seadra's spines are actually deadly if you touch them at the wrong time. Uma, use Bubblebeam."

His confidence gradually returning, Uma exhales a steady stream of his painful bubbles. Cranidos is trapped by the beam, which doesn't cease its popping until every bubble vanishes. When the attack is completely gone Cranidos is furious but also very tired. He clearly wants to charge Uma again but can't seem to summon the energy to run at him. The poison plus the bubbles must have taken their toll; finally he relents and sits on the floor, hanging his head. He is too exhausted to fight anymore.

Roark glances down at his Cranidos, his eyes wide with surprise. For some reason I feel like he's going to explode on me, although he never does. Instead he plants himself in front of Cranidos and smiles, almost triumphantly. "That was quite a display of power… wiping out my Cranidos with one attack. No questions – you definitely deserve the Coal Badge."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small round object that looks like a button somebody would put on a shirt. It's minuscule enough to get lost easily if I don't keep it somewhere safe. It has a pentagonal shape with a rounded top and vaguely resembles a bolder crossed with a Poké Ball.

"The Coal Badge," I echo. "I guess this signifies that I completed this Gym?"

"That it does," Roark confirmed. "The next Gym you want to head for is in Eterna City, which is directly north of here. It's a long hike, though. Anyway, once you collect all eight Gym badges, you can challenge the Elite Four, and you'll get some nice recognition if you manage to go that far. Not many Trainers can top the Elite Four."

"Thanks, Roark!" I acknowledge. Now I'm not nearly as clueless.

Speaking of… "Oh, there was something else I wanted to ask you. Earlier I fought a Pokémon that used an Electric-type attack, and I heard that Ground-type Pokémon are good for fighting that type of opponent… where could I find a Ground-type Pokémon?"

Roark puts his hand on his chin and thinks for a minute, his eyes rising to the ceiling. "You could always try the mine," he suggests. "Geodude live they're, and they're immune to Electric attacks. It's a little dirty down there, though. Your other option is Wayward Cave, to the north, but it's a long hike up there as well. It is on the way to Eterna, if that's where you're looking to go."

I glance back at my Pokémon. They probably wouldn't want to spend any dirty, dusty time in the mine down south, but hiking would be good for their endurance.

"Thank you again!" I tell Roark. "I'm off."

"Good luck!" he calls after me as I excitedly exit the Gym.

I lead my Pokémon back north, just like I did yesterday. As we approach the edge of the city, I ask them, "What did you guys think about the Pokémon Gym?"

"I'd like to see what the more difficult ones are like," Searcher replies, an enthusiastic light glimmering in his cobalt-blue eyes. "Hopefully they won't have more Rock-types, so I have a chance to fight without getting knocked out in one hit." He starts punching the air with his hands as if he's already attacking somebody with Twineedle.

"They definitely don't call it a Gym for nothing," Uma sighs, resting his neck back on his hands. "Man, that Cranidos was tough… hopefully the next one doesn't hurt that hard."

"They're probably all different somehow," Aleta ventures. "I imagine the difficulty would increase as you get farther and farther away from Oreburgh City."

"Makes sense to me," Akumu joins in. He probably doesn't have much of an opinion, though, since he wasn't one of the Pokémon fighting.

"Do you think we'll find a good Ground-type friend in Wayward Cave?" I continue. "I wonder what Ground-type Pokémon look like. I hope they're not all like Geodude."

"They're not," Searcher reassures me. "I haven't myself seen any other than Geodude, but I can say for sure that they look like more than just rocks. There are so many kinds of Pokémon in the world that it's impossible not to find one you like."

"You might want to watch out for wild Pokémon," Aleta notifies me. "They do tend to show up the farther you get away from the city."

"Thanks for reminding me. I would have forgotten…"

The trail north is a steady incline dotted with trees and rocks on either side, with a view of Mount Coronet to the east. If I remember correctly, there used to be a bike path here, but its direction was changed slightly because of some sort of space concerns. At least now we have the entire trail to ourselves.

After a few minutes we notice some Pokémon start to move about. An unfamiliar one jumps out of the bushes unexpectedly, its large brown eyes on my team. It has a vaguely humanoid shape but is quite short, with blue skin and a reptilian tail. It almost looks more like an alien than a Pokémon.

"What kind of Pokémon is that?" I ask, hoping Searcher will be able to answer my question.

"I've never seen a Pokémon like that," he admits, crossing his arms. "Who's fighting it?"

"I'll go." Aleta steps forward and switches to her Pokémon form. The humanoid Pokémon isn't a whole lot smaller than she is, but there's no guarantee that its size reflects its strength.

"All right, then, Aleta." I attempt to think this through a little more – wild Pokémon would be good practice for her, since she hasn't gotten much battle experience yet. "Start out with Aqua Ring for now."

"Will do." Augmenting a little bit of water energy, she focuses on the protective membrane surrounding her damp skin, forming circles of moisture in some places that will rehydrate her every so often. Cool water is a surprisingly good relief for painful wounds.

After Aleta's attack finishes, the wild Pokémon dashes forward, delivering a low, sweeping kick. It doesn't hurt much, since it only grazes the bottom of Aleta's body, but it could potentially sting a lot worse if aimed right.

"I can take a lot more than that," Aleta murmurs to herself, her minuscule pain instantly comforted by the veil of water she had constructed earlier.

I let her relax in the cooling water veil while I plan out her next move. "Use Aqua Jet," I tell her slowly. If the humanoid Pokémon isn't really all that strong, this would be a good time to sample her varied repertoire of moves.

Propelling herself with her fins, Aleta lunges forward, spouting water from her mouth as she does so. The combined speed and pressure slams into the wild Pokémon with considerable force. It looks hurt initially, but rises right back to its feet. Within a few seconds it charges Aleta again, this time assaulting her with a chop of its hand. Hit straight in the gills, the Alomomola loses her breath for a moment, but regains it promptly as the veil of water sooths her pain once more.

"Finish it off with Water Pulse," I command. Judging by the power of its attacks and how small it appeared, the wild Pokémon is probably reasonably close to knocked out; a good, relatively powerful attack should be enough to get it out of our way.

"Sure thing," Aleta acknowledges. She exhales a shimmering stream of water, doing so effortlessly thanks to her countless experiences using it.

The wild Pokémon watches the trembling water for a moment before the attack soaks it in the face, at which point it grimaces and hurriedly runs off in the direction from which it came.

Aleta swishes her fins contentedly and smiles her tight-lipped Alomomola smile. That gave her a decent chance to practice her moves, and she should have a better grip on whatever battles she fights in the future. For each fight, she'll get just a little bit stronger, and it won't be long before she can hold her own just as well as Uma or Searcher.

She reverts her form and the group continues to hike up the trail. Along the way, we meet a couple more of the blue humanoid Pokémon. Aleta and Searcher each get to battle one; both emerge victorious. Searcher appeared to have a hard time hurting his opponent with Twineedle, though. He explains that the Pokémon is most likely a Fighting-type, and thus it would be resistant to his Bug moves.

As we continue, I glance at Akumu nervously. "Are you sure you don't want to try battling?"

"I already know how," he replies. "Besides, we wouldn't want to risk anybody seeing me. Who knows what kind of chaos would ensue if there are reports of Darkrai sightings so near to civilization? Your human friends worry too much."

I shrug silently. I guess there's no use arguing with Akumu if he doesn't want to fight. I wouldn't want to get in a conflict with him, that's for sure. I have no clue what moves he might know, but considering the fact that he's a legendary Pokémon, they're probably quite powerful ones.

Eventually we reach the end of the trail, and the hill smooths out marginally until it transitions into another cave. Uma practically flops onto the ground once it levels off; for being the most laid-back, he sure is the most melodramatic. Aleta glances at him for only a moment and then continues absently as if nothing happened.

"I think we're leaving you behind," Searcher mutters to Uma, and then also proceeds nonchalantly.

Akumu doesn't even bother to acknowledge Uma's existence. He passes by as though the Seadra is just another pebble or blade of grass.

When he notices that nobody cares whether or not he's tired, Uma scrambles to his feet and follows hurriedly. If he has enough energy to keep up with us, he must not be as exhausted as he looks.

At least the last two caverns we passed through had made me familiar with Geodude and Zubat, because we're about to explore another deep, dark hole. Now I know what to expect, even if I can't see anything outside Aleta's light. Something unexpected would be nice, though, like a Ground-type that's not as rugged and masculine as Geodude is.

"How deep do you think we have to go?" I ask Akumu. He leads the group carefully and slowly, his icy eyes perfectly adapted to the absence of light.

"As far as it takes to find a reasonable Ground-type, I guess," he answers with a shrug of his shoulders. "But not dangerously deep, of course. It's not worth losing all of our lives just because we want a type advantage."

After about a minute of walking he stops in his tracks. The other three Pokémon halt behind him. Aleta cautiously advances a step, holding up her Heal Pulse steadily. In the darkness is a giant serpentine Pokémon with a body made of rocks, curled up between the walls of the passage. It appears to be sleeping quite peacefully – it never considered whether a human and her Pokémon would enter its lair.

"What do we do?" Aleta asks, glancing nervously back at us.

"I guess we have to force it to move," Searcher responds with a sigh. "Or we could convince it to come with us."

"I don't think I could handle such a big Pokémon," I protest, "even if it is a Ground-type. How are we going to bring it anywhere?"

"Should we turn back?" Aleta inquires. "I'm not sure we should disturb a Pokémon of this size."

Searcher shakes his head. "Size doesn't matter. If we can get it to move out of our way, maybe we'll find something." He steps towards the rock serpent carefully. "Who agrees?"

"I suppose we're fine as long as we have our Water moves," Uma relents. "Plus, Searcher likes to be in the front, so if something goes wrong he'll be the first to find out."

Searcher tensed as though he was put off by this statement, but he didn't react to it otherwise. "All right, then let's go!"

Without further warning he switched form and rushed at the rock serpent with his stingers, striking straight at a spot between the boulders that composed its body. It awakens in an instant and didn't hesitate to cry out. As soon as it regains its composure it turns its giant, pointed head towards us and glares with its stark black-and-white eyes. It appears as though it wants to attack but isn't sure if aggravating a wasp Pokémon is such a good idea.

"I'm coming in," Uma announces, also switching his form and spouting forth bubbles as soon as he has the snout to do so. As always, they swarm the rock serpent like a horde of mosquitoes, popping and vanishing as soon as they bite. The snake does not like this attack one bit and writhes quite dangerously until the last bubble is gone. When the assault finally ends it looks very hurt but refuses to acknowledge its wounds; instead it curls its tail forward and wraps it around Uma's spiky body. The serpent doesn't even acknowledge the Seadra's spines as it cinches its opponent in its coils. Uma coughs forth a bit of smoke but doesn't respond other than that – the air is being forced out of his gills by the rock snake's hard, serpentine body.

"Uma!" Aleta switches to her Alomomola form as quick as a flash and lunges forward with her newly-mastered Aqua Jet attack, aiming straight for the rock serpent's face. She strikes it square in the nose and it rears back, letting go of Uma with its tail in order to keep itself from falling backwards.

Uma retreats almost behind Akumu, his fins twitching irritably. "That attack really hurt," he grumbles, smoke starting to waft from his snout. "It's about time we finished this fight." Before Searcher can make another move, the Seadra refills his lungs with air and then exhales a forceful stream of smoke towards the rock serpent's face.

The gas evidently stings the snake's eyes, because its growling sounds even more irritated than it did a second before. I feel a little bit sorry for it for having its face attacked so many times, but it should survive with how hard its outer shell is. I just have to make sure I stay out of the way its attacks – with my Pokémon distracting it, that shouldn't be too difficult a task.

Blinded, the rock serpent swishes its head in a wide arch, seeking its targets. Searcher leaps out of the way nimbly, giggling as he does so. He promptly rushes back at the giant Rock-type, this time stabbing with his stingers multiple times in a row at the nearest living boulder. The rock snake doesn't acknowledge him at all; instead it searches in vain for either Aleta or Uma, but they stay well away from the wide arc of its head.

"Take this, then!" Aleta cries, spitting out a Water Pulse an instant later. Of course, it strikes the rock snake right in the face. Spitting out the water furiously, the rock snake decides that it's had enough and grumbles continuously and it turns and slinks farther down into the depths of the cave. I lose sight of it after mere seconds, but Akumu's ice-blue eyes stay frozen on the spot for several minutes, as though he can see it for miles down the tunnel. Granted, it doesn't move that fast, but he still appears very wary of it. It's almost like he expects it to come back after meeting up with such difficult opponents.

Aleta breathes an audible sigh of relief, and her light wavers as her attention drifts away from it. As soon as she notices this, though, she brings its illumination back up. No way she's going to let our only source of vision extinguish in this dark cave.

"What's that?" Uma asks suddenly, pointing to one of the cave walls previously blocked by the rock serpent. There's a small burrow in the wall about two feet off of the ground, and it looks like a Pokémon is inside it. Before I have much of a chance to study it in the long shadows and gloomy blue light, the Pokémon jumps out of the hole, landing nimbly on the ground despite its rotund shape. It appears to be a reptilian Pokémon, although it's so small that it's hard to tell. Most of its body appears to consist of its head; there is no neck connecting its head and torso, and so it's impossible to tell where its head ends and where its neck begins. It has a mainly blue body with a red underside and a couple of cyan stripes. It has a giant mouth etched into the front of its body, offset by a crest extending backwards from its head. Its arms and legs are stubby, but it looks like it's able to get around just fine, albeit with a little bit of a waddle in its gait. It turns its head (just about its whole body, actually) to investigate its surroundings, and naturally it spots us with its giant black eyes. A smile creeps across its parted lips, revealing dangerously sharp teeth; however, it makes no move to bite or show hostility. Instead, it starts making noises that sound halfway between squeak and growl, motioning in several directions with its tiny arms.

"It looks like a little Pokémon," I respond slowly, although the others have probably picked up on that by now. "Akumu, can you understand what it's saying?"

He nods slowly, his gaze already on the tiny blue reptile. A few moments pass, with the only noise being the reptile Pokémon's squeals, until Akumu begins speaking. "He says he's a Gible… and he's grateful that we moved the Onix out of the way so that he could get out of his hole."

"Onix," I echo, rolling the word around in my head. That must be the name of the giant rock snake – a rather short name for such a large creature. I expected it to have some sort of long, fearsome name, but I'm not a Pokémon scientist. What would I know about nomenclature?

"It must be dark and cold down here, don't you think?" Aleta asks Gible, tilting her head to the side slightly.

The Gible turns its giant puppy-dog eyes on her, and appears to think for a moment. It then spouts forth more squeaky-growls in response, following up with a nod of its head/body.

"What do you mean 'no?'" Akumu protests, his frozen-blue eyes narrowing. "How can it be warmer down here than it is up there?"

The Gible answers with more clucks before Aleta interjects. "But staying down here in the dark is going to get boring eventually, especially for a long-living dragon like you. Don't you want to see the outside world a little? Above-ground?"

The Gible's fanged grin fades and it stays quiet for about a minute. I can almost hear the gears turning in its little head. Is this tiny little guy really a dragon? I can see reptile, but dragon is hard to imagine. He's so small, and he has such stubby limbs. Maybe he's a lot more powerful than he appears – all of those jaw muscles he has have to count towards something.

Eventually the Gible starts talking again in its squeaky language. At first it sounds reluctant about answering, but then it brightens up. I think I'm starting to understand the little guy, at least by his tone – it sounds like he would indeed like to see something in the world other than a bunch of rocks.

"Hey," I intercede after a few moments of silence, "ask him if he happens to be a Ground-type."

"He is," Akumu answers instantly. "That's why Aleta was asking him about seeing the outside."

"Oh."

"Anyway," Aleta continues, "We're going on a quest for battle that's going to take us all over the Sinnoh region." She makes sweeping motions with her fins to enunciate. "If you want, you can come with us so you won't be stuck in this hole for your entire life. Who knows – maybe we'll find a lot more caves to explore and to stay warm in."

The Gible's grin gradually returns as Aleta speaks, and its round eyes begin to sparkle with excitement. As the last word of her sentence fades into the cave, it waddles up to her at top speed and bounces up and down as though springs are attached to its little feet. It emits several high-pitched squeaks and then turns in a circle. Clearly that would be a yes.

"All right, then – " Uma starts to interject, but the Gible is already waddling in the direction we came. He notices and follows after it hurriedly – one of the only times he ever seems to be in a hurry to go anywhere.

The rest of us form a group with the Gible. I don't even notice the dark walls passing by as I walk; all I can feel is Akumu next to me, leading the way. All I can see is his eyes, shining like ice in the sunlight, but apart from that his form disappears into the darkness. I have to use my sense of touch to tell myself that he's really there and that he isn't just a floating head in the expanse of black. Of course, my feet are making contact with the floor, but the group's footsteps are lost into the void of silence – my ears don't even pick them up. It's almost like I'm blind (Aleta is behind me, and her light dissipates before much of it can reach my eyes), relying entirely on Akumu to show me where to go. I lean against him a little – his body is strong, even while he's focused on moving forward. Getting lost is impossible when I have Akumu with me, even if he isn't the most renowned Pokémon in the world.

Akumu is vaguely warm. Then again, hopefully most Pokémon are (other than the Ice-types, of course).

Suddenly Akumu stops walking, and I overshoot a little, catching my balance a couple of steps ahead. A little bit of heat rises to my face as I wonder whether anybody saw. Then I ask myself why it would matter. I guess I wouldn't want my Pokémon to think of me as a clumsy person, or they might not listen to me.

I snatch my composure back as fast as I can. "What's wrong, Akumu?" I ask, my voice a little bit shaky from my stumble. The Gible squeaks a little bit, although I can't tell whether it's sad or voicing its own question.

"We should have reached the exit by now," he responds urgently, his face hard. His limbs are tense as well – maybe this is what Akumu looks like when he's scared. "Did we take a wrong turn?"

"I didn't notice a fork in the road," Aleta murmurs, her voice equally unstable.

The Gible starts squeaking from behind Aleta and hops up and down every so often. In response, she turns around and watches it intently. "Really? Which way?"

Unexpectedly the Gible whirls around and waddle-runs back in the direction we came. It's a fast little dragon, but not faster than the Pokémon and I can jog. At first I move my feet carefully; I can't see where I'm going, and the last thing I want to do right now is trip over a stalagmite and hurt myself away from any decent healing places. I soon reach Akumu's side again, and he grabs my hand in his own before running off after the Gible. I start a little and can barely keep up for the first few seconds – Akumu has never snatched my hand like that before. Perhaps he can sense my anxiety. The best way to prevent me from tripping is to hold me up, I guess.

I grasp Akumu's hand tightly to keep myself from tripping as we follow the Gible back down the tunnel. Now we're in the rear of the group. I really can't see anything except Aleta's faint light illuminating the walls ahead, and reflecting into Akumu's ice-blue eyes. Our hurried footsteps echo quietly and then loudly within my ears. I block them out so that it's only me, and the darkness. And Akumu's hand. Just me and the darkness and Akumu.

I hold on, close my eyes. Akumu's hand is just a hand… but it's also a Pokémon's hand. A Darkrai's hand. It feels the same as a human hand. I remember that Darkrai's hands are three-fingered claws built for firing shadow energy, but that's not what I have in my hand right now. Even if Akumu is a Darkrai, his hand doesn't feel like that. If I could open my eyes and see him in the darkness right now, maybe he would look like a Darkrai, but he still feels human to me.

He stops again, except this time I expect it and stop with him. I can see now – we're safe outside the cave, with Gible in front and my other three Pokémon behind him. My hand is cold, and also warm. I let go – I can walk on my own now. It's not dark anymore.

Uma sighs with relief when he notices we're finally back outside. The battle with the Onix was tiring for all of us; it didn't attack much, but it was a large and strong opponent worth fighting.

"So where do we go next?" Aleta inquires. Now that we've avoided getting lost in a dark hole.

The Gible squeaks questioningly. There's no reason it should know the answer, since it just met us about half of an hour ago anyway. Besides, it has probably never been outside the cave.

"We continue north," I reply. "That's where Eterna City is – and the next Gym."

"Sounds good to me," Searcher acknowledges, striking another pose with his hands like they're his stingers. I wonder why he does that. Maybe it's a way of preparing himself mentally for a challenge… or maybe another battle.

"You can come with us, Gible," Aleta suggests with a smile.

"Hey," Akumu interrupts, "Gible, don't you want a real name so that we don't have to keep calling you by your species? You did us a favor, after all… and you'll be with us for a while, so we might as well give you a proper name."

"Un!" Gible squeaks loudly with a nod of his giant head.

"But what kind of name should we give it?" Uma inquires, leaning his head to one side a little bit. "I mean, it has to be a good name…"

"How about Gabrias?" Akumu suggests after about half of a minute. "It sounds relatively normal. It's actually the name for one of Gible's forms in another language… that's all I know, though."

"Gabrias." Like I did with 'Onix,' I rolled the word around in my head a few times. It sounded like a human name, but it also didn't; it had a Pokémon-esque ring to it and yet still sounded sophisticated. "Gabrias. Do you like that?"

The Gible tilted its head a few times as if the word was literally rolling around in there. After twenty seconds or so it nodded enthusiastically with his signature growly squeaks. He waddles over to Akumu and makes a jumping motion as if to high-five him, even with its tiny hands.

"Okay, Gabrias, let's keep going," Aleta sang, starting back down the trail.

"Eterna City is this way," I notified her, pointing towards a beaten path to the west. To be honest, it was more like a trail of lowered grass where some people had walked there earlier, and it wound among more trees and rocks while following the side of the hill into which the cavern was carved. It was the only road I could find that was likely to end up at Eterna City to the north, unless Wayward Cave somehow had an elevator in it.

"…Oh." Aleta mutters one word before she comes back to me, instead beginning down the grassy path.

I lead my Pokémon down the trail. It's not nearly as dark as Wayward Cave was, so there's no reason Akumu needs to be in front. It seems pretty deserted, too – there aren't any wild Pokémon jumping out at us. Gabrias makes quiet clucking noises every so often, as though he is content just to walk somewhere that's not a cramped cave. Quiet footsteps through the brush echo behind me. This Route is a nice, quiet place. Of course, we're not going to have much peace in the future while we fight. Especially not with Team Galactic around.


	7. I'm Not Afraid

"Lucidia, wake up."

Darkness. Where am I again? Oh, yeah – the hotel room. We came to Eterna City to fight the Gym Leader, but it was already late in the afternoon by the time we had gotten here, so we decided to look around a little bit and then rest for the night. As it turns out there's a huge Team Galactic facility on the north side of town. I'd like to go in and give them all a good beating, but judging how the battle with Saturn went earlier it would probably be best to wait until we can train a little bit more.

"Lucidia." Oh, the voice. I forgot it was there.

I open my eyes further to the blackness. There's a hand on my shoulder, prodding me awake – from the nearby voice, I can tell that it's Akumu's. Why would he want me awake so late at night? Maybe he has some urgent revelation to tell me. I sit up slowly and turn towards him. "What is it, Akumu? Did you see something outside?"

"…No." For some reason Akumu hesitates to answer. "I was going for a walk, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

"Come with you?" I repeat, blinking slowly in the dim light. "I'm a little tired, but I don't see why not… why, is there something scaring you?"

"No." Akumu shrugs. "It just gets lonely in the city at night. I was thinking I would sleep better if I had some company."

_You already sleep long enough,_ I whispered harshly at him in my mind. But I didn't say this out loud. "Sure… a little fresh air won't hurt. Just don't wake the other Pokémon."

Akumu's ice-blue eyes reflect his otherwise invisible smile. "I'm a Darkrai. It's not hard for me to keep them asleep for a few minutes."

That gives me a little bit of uneasiness. Is Akumu trying to get me alone for some reason? I do trust him, but he sounds almost like he's targeting me… what has been in the last few years since he followed me home on the boat?

I shake my head. He's just a Pokémon, not to mention _my _Pokémon. There's no reason he should want to hurt me. I hurriedly mask my anxiety by rising to my feet. "All right, lead the way. I can't see in the dark like you can."

Akumu straightens himself and walks calmly out the door. I follow him cautiously, trying to swallow the sliver of doubt rising in my stomach. Surely he wouldn't try to attack me or anything… he never mentioned any legends about Darkrai drinking blood or anything like that. As far as I know its only ability is putting people to sleep and giving them nightmares… surely that can't be very dangerous?

We reach the cool air of the outside city and I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. Hopefully Akumu doesn't notice anything if he is secretly planning to hurt me. That's pretty unlikely, though. At least, that's what I've been telling myself for the last five minutes.

"How does your midnight walk usually go?" I inquire innocently, trying to keep my voice level.

"Like I said earlier, pretty lonely," Akumu replies slowly. "Sometimes the solitude is good for me, though. It gives me time to think. I don't like big cities very much, though." He sounds like he's stammering a lot.

"I don't really mind cities," I told him. "It's noise and crowds that get to me." I let my eyes wander along the edge of the street. There are enough lights for me to see where I'm going, but not enough to brighten the inky blue night sky. It looks different from how it does at dusk – it's darker, and there are more little stars. The sky almost looks like a big mosaic. "It's nice without all of the light pollution like we have in Canalave."

"What is?" Akumu glances back at me, the fiery orange light reflecting in his ice-blue eyes, making them almost look like stars themselves.

"The sky." I point vaguely with one of my hands. "You probably see it differently than I do, but I'm not used to seeing so many stars."

"Oh." Akumu looks up as though he never really knew the sky existed before. "Yeah… I can't tell how you humans see, though. Even if I did try to explain it, you probably wouldn't understand the differences. I don't really, either." He lowers his gaze and continues walking.

"We already know you can see in the dark."

Akumu doesn't reply; he just keeps strolling along the nighttime sidewalk as though the sun is shining brightly and birds are singing. Maybe his mind is wandering.

I glance up again. The moon is hanging tentatively in the sky. It looks like it might fall and crash to earth any minute, even with the sun's light holding it up. Akumu probably prefers the moon to the sun. If I had to guess, sunlight is a little bit too bright for his eyes.

Nobody else is outside at this hour. It's just me and my one Pokémon. Alone. In the dark. Maybe I'm dreaming. No, this place is definitely real… dreams usually come with a certain lightheadedness that you don't realize is there until you wake up. I can think just fine… this is real.

"Thanks for coming along," Akumu pipes up suddenly. He pauses until I catch up to him – I didn't realize that I was behind. Is there a reason I was lagging so much?

"Oh. You're welcome…" A little bit of heat rises to my face. It's a little bit of a weird thought, but I've never had a Pokémon thank me before. "Why, is something wrong?"

"Even we legendary Pokémon get scared sometimes," Akumu admits. He sounds as though he wants to let his voice trail off, but he catches it at the last minute. "Your human world is a scary place, Lucidia. Humans do scary things, like invade our homes. It's frightening to think about it sometimes."

"…I guess it is," I mumble, unsure of what to say. "I'm not a Pokémon, though. I wouldn't know how it feels, but I can imagine where you're coming from. I would get scared if a group of random people suddenly shoved me to a corner of the world… but then I would wonder what Trainers are for. I guess the Pokémon-human relationship can go both ways."

"It just depends on how it's executed," Akumu agrees. "Some go one way, some go the other way."

More silence. A cold breeze whispers through the buildings, and I shiver a little bit. Of course, I'm still wearing the gray jacket I bring with me everywhere, but even that isn't always enough to keep the frost out. Gray is a bit of a dull color, but when paired with orange it makes for a comfortingly warm combination. Especially on the Pokémon Houndour – I had read about it before, and it was actually some of the inspiration from which I picked my usual outfit. I didn't know of any places in Sinnoh where Houndour lived, though. If I did I probably would have begged my parents for one a long time ago.

"Is something wrong?"

Akumu's voice pierces into my thoughts. It looks like I let my mind wander again. I glance up at him – I didn't notice that I was looking down in the first place. "No," I replied with a gentle smile. "Just thinking. It's a little cold outside, don't you think?"

"Maybe." Akumu's ice-blue eyes are calm and smooth like the ocean at twilight. "To be honest, I can't really feel differences in temperature as easily as you humans do. But now that you mention it the temperature is starting to drop a little bit. It's almost winter, right?"

"I guess it is." Another thing I hadn't considered much before. The transition between summer and autumn, and then autumn to fall was the one I tended to notice the least, even if it was the coldest. "It will probably start snowing soon. Getting caught in a snowstorm would be no fun."

"You can snuggle in closer if you're too cold," Akumu offers, a laugh shining in his visible eye. "I don't bite… not my Trainer, at least."

"Uh… okay." I can't find a reason not to, so I allow myself to lean against him a little bit, as I did in Wayward Cave. The only difference is that this time I'm not doing it so I can see where I'm going. It _is_ nice to have a source of warmth so close to me, though. My hands are starting to get cold. If I keep walking I should stay moderately warm…

Akumu leads me through the dark for another minute or so before he draws to a stop. He's looking away at something out of my field of vision.

"What is it?" I inquire slowly, returning my weight to my own feet. "Is somebody watching us?"

"No," Akumu replies gently. "There's an interesting statue over there."

"Can we go see?"

He shrugs. "Might as well."

The Darkrai leads me to a side path I hadn't noticed before. We stroll down this path for a couple hundred feet until I finally see the giant silhouette of the statue. It towers far above my head; as we draw closer I'm starting to see many more details. It has a sauropod-like form with six stout legs. Two slender but capable wings with spikes on the inside extend from the back. Part of its head glints in the starlight – it probably has some sort of crest or something.

It looks like there's a plate attached to the base of the statue, but of course I can't read it. Akumu appears to be examining it, though.

"What is it?" I ask him, leaning in to warm up a little bit more.

"His name is Giratina," he explains. "Lord of the Distortion World – that is, the dimension on the opposite side of this one."

"Distortion World?" I echo. "Sounds scary." It appears that Pokémon exist that are more scary than Akumu. I would not want to cross paths with the Lord of the Distortion World without some serious backup.

Akumu shrugs again. "I didn't know humans had enough contact with Lord Giratina to know what he looks like. They've gotten pretty close, at least…"

"Have you met Giratina?"

He shakes his head slowly. "Not personally. We legendaries tend to know a little bit about each other even if we've never met. It's just how the world works… there's little explanation for it, but that's how it is." He turns his head to glance at something farther behind the statue. "Now what would that be?"

"What?" I crane my neck, but trying to see in the dim moonlight is futile. Only Akumu can do such a thing.

"It looks like something Team Galactic would have thought up. A building… this must be their base facility that we heard about yesterday."

I exhale quickly. "I'd love to just go in and beat them all up one by one, but judging by the number and strength that'll have to wait."

"I know what you mean." Akumu tenses slightly next to me. "To be honest, I could probably wipe them all out myself, but then the humans would know who I am… not to mention the fact that you'd probably turn into a wanted criminal."

Akumu falls into silence. I wrap my arms around myself a little tighter – I'm starting to get cold and tired, but I don't want to deprive Akumu of his midnight walk. I'm not going to die of exposure or anything – not as long as I'm wearing all of these clothes. Of course, my attempt to be passive is futile. Akumu notices my discomfort without missing a beat. "It's probably about time to go back inside…"

I nod silently. I'm worried that if I respond, I'll offend Akumu. I chuckle inwardly; the last thing I want to do is make enemies with one of the darker legendary Pokémon.

As we start back towards the hotel, I raise my voice again. "So if this Giratina is Lord of the Distortion World, what does that make you?"

Akumu waits for a second to answer, possibly for emphasis. He is definitely the type of Pokémon who would do such a thing. "Lord of the New Moon," he replies slowly, intensely. In those few words he somehow sounds as though he's trying to tell a horror story. "Opposite to the Lady of the Full Moon. Her name is Cresselia…"

"I didn't know you had an opposite… I've never heard of a Pokémon called Cresselia."

"Cresselia usually ignores us Darkrai," Akumu explained, his gaze beginning to fall to the ground. "Maybe we've just been good at keeping a low profile. But if we're not careful our nightmares become impossible to break, and then Cresselia has to take time out of her daily schedule to come and wake everybody up."

Noticing the changes in Akumu's pronouns, I ask another question. "Is there more than one Cresselia?"

He shrugs, although the movement in his shoulders is weak. "Maybe. I met her when I was young, but that was too long ago to remember. For all I know there could be hundreds of Cresselias all over the world. They're probably like most legendary Pokémon, though, and there aren't many of them around."

"So you and Cresselia don't like each other very much," I speculate, "since you're opposites."

Akumu nods slowly. "You could say we have a bit of a rivalry." Suddenly he rests his head back on his folded arms like Uma usually does and exhales sharply. "I'm just glad we haven't seen her recently… all the free time I need."

His unexpected change in behavior pulls a quiet laugh out of my throat. I never thought about what would happen if Uma and Akumu suddenly swapped personalities… Uma would be a lot darker and creepier, that's for sure.

We spend the next few minutes returning to the door of the hotel in silence. No, it's not locked, and I don't know why not. (Perhaps Akumu has some weak form of telepathy.) I also can't tell why Akumu wouldn't talk more… maybe the subject of Cresselia depressed him a little bit. I can imagine not wanting to talk about my sworn enemies, even to my most trusted Pokémon. (Not that I have any sworn enemies, other than Team Galactic, but that's obvious.)

Akumu halts a few meters short of the door. "Hey, Lucidia… thanks for coming out with me. I probably would have been scared if I were alone."

"You're not afraid of the dark, are you?" I tease gently, although I try to make my tone sound more like a serious question than a taunt.

"No… just of cities. Sometimes of humans." The volume of Akumu's voice is starting to decrease. It's hard to imagine that even a powerful Pokémon like him could be scared of humans… it's like the lesson of Sharpedo being more afraid of humans than vice versa, though. People are said to be on top of the food chain – it wouldn't make sense for any Pokémon _not_ to have some form of fear for them. I guess the mutually beneficial relationship between Pokémon and their Trainers, or Breeders, or Coordinators or whatever job people had, was a way to make up for that.

"…I'm not afraid of you, though," Akumu adds on quickly. What looks like a smile glints in his ice-blue eyes, but I might just be seeing things.

"Don't worry," I assured him. "I didn't assume that you were."

"Actually…" Akumu begins a sentence, but he never finishes it. His hand moves a little bit, but whatever he's going to do, he decides against it within a second and relaxes. "Never mind. Let's go back inside."


	8. Getting Back to Saturn

The Eterna City Gym looms before us, just as imposing as the one in Oreburgh. The building doesn't look quite the same, though. For one thing, it's a lot more alive. Instead of being dyed in rusty grey and oranges, it has a blue and green color scheme that blends in with the rest of the city. On the whole it looks a lot more welcoming than does the one in Oreburgh.

The Pokémon and I slip inside, with Gabrias bouncing and squeaking behind us. He still hasn't made up a gijinka form for himself, but since he is such a small Pokémon he's probably just too young. At least he's relatively mobile, and he can walk by himself. It would only be irritating if he was like Searcher as a Kakuna and I had to carry him around everywhere.

The inside of the Gym is a lot flatter than the inside of the Gym in Oreburgh. There are no stairs or hills - just an expansive room with a thicket of trees crowding the center. There are also several plants dotting the floor space around the thicket, as well as spreading to the outer walls of the Gym. Overall it's like walking into another meadow, except for the fact that it's indoors.

"Are we too early?" I wonder aloud. Then I notice that there is one person in here, and whoever it is is crossing from the other side of the building.

"No, but you're one of the earliest arrivals I've gotten in a while," she calls, swishing a grass-green mantle about her shoulders. This must be the Gym leader – that is, Roark's equivalent, but in a different Gym. She is probably stronger than he is as well. Hopefully that won't cause too much of a problem…

"Anyway," she continues as she approaches us, "my name is Gardenia. I specialize in Grass-type Pokémon. Are you guys here to challenge the Eterna City Gym?" Though she may be our opponent in battle soon, her orange eyes are smiling welcomingly.

I nod quickly. "Yes. I'm Lucidia… pleased to meet you." I'm a little awkward at first, but Gardenia's cheerful attitude allows me to relax a little bit. Inwardly, I'm a little bit nervous; I've never fought any Grass-type Pokémon consciously. I wonder what they could be like… they're probably the plant-like ones such as Budew. That's the only plant Pokémon I know of, though…

"All right, then. Shall we get started?" Gardenia's smile appears across her lips now, and she tilts her head joyfully.

"Of course." Okay, time for another Gym battle. These really are intense… I probably still have several more to complete before I can challenge the Pokémon League. I'm going to need some training before then – they're probably not all set up in a way so that a Trainer can go through and defeat them all consecutively without participating in any other battles. "Searcher, how about you go first. You haven't had a good fight in a while.

"Yes!" Searcher buzzes forwards and stretches his stingers triumphantly towards the sky. Perhaps he's a little overenthusiastic… well, it's better than not following orders. As expected, he strikes a pose, jabbing his right arm towards Gardenia. "You're going down, miss!"

Gardenia doesn't appear offended by Searcher's behavior. In fact, she laughs quietly. "You have some funny companions with you."

Before Searcher can respond, she glances over her shoulder and shouts to somebody in the tree-thicket. "Cherubi, Turtwig, Roserade. You guys are up."

In a few seconds the plants rustle and Gardenia's three Pokémon strut out calmly. One is a tiny fruit with a giant leaf and stubby legs – nonetheless it appears quite capable of walking. The second Pokémon is a little reptile with a curved-in beak and a sprout extending from the top of its head. If it buried itself in the ground, I would believe that it was just another plant. The third is considerably taller than the other two, and looks like a walking flower wearing a cape. I've never seen any of these Pokémon before, but the Roserade looks especially dangerous. Something about it screams grace and capability, and its Grass-type movescould be potentially quite painful.

Searcher notices the three Pokémon approaching, and a small amount of the battle-hungry glint fades from his cobalt eyes. He bounces anxiously at his knees, though, as if he's ready to leap at any one of them at a moment's notice.

"Cherubi, you first." Gardenia motions with her hands and looks back to Searcher. "This could turn out to be an interesting battle. Good luck."

"All right, Searcher," I mutter, wondering if he's learned how to use any new moves yet. "I guess you can start with Twineedle and go from there."

"Let's do this!" Searcher cries, an instant later launching at Cherubi with his stingers brandished. He slams into the fruit Pokémon with their sharp tips, one after the other. Cherubi is pinned against the ground with the jabbing pain, and barely has the strength to stand up again. (Not that standing up does all that much, since its legs are almost too short to be visible anyway.)

"Cherubi, use Leech Seed." For how hurt her Pokémon is, her voice is surprisingly even and confident. She's probably experienced this same situation a million times before, though.

The little Grass-type sprouts a seed from the leaf on its head and launches it at Searcher. The Beedrill tenses and tries to swat it away with one of his stingers, but the seed sprouts a plant in midair and wraps itself around Searcher's wrist.

"Aww," Searcher grumbles. He sounds like he might add in another word but shuts his mouth before his voice can insert it. "I hate Leech Seed."

"What does it do?" I ask Searcher. Hopefully it's not a deadly affliction…

"Nothing good," he replies urgently. I just have to knock out this Cherubi and get it off before it drains all of my energy."

As if on cue, Gardenia's Cherubi relaxes a little. Somehow the seed must transfer a bit of Searcher's health long-distance to it, in which case Searcher is right and we should finish this battle as soon as possible.

"Go ahead," I tell Searcher. I'm still confident that he knows a lot more about battling than I do.

"Take this!" Searcher flies forward again, smashing into Cherubi with his whole body rather than his stingers. The power of the attack is obvious; Searcher's opponent falls right onto its face, unable to fight any longer.

Gardenia grimaces, but doesn't show any other sign of disappointment. "You did well," she tells Cherubi slowly, and then glances back at her remaining two Pokémon. "All right, Turtwig, you're up next."

The little turtle Pokémon squeaks a little bit and jumps forward, disregarding its own bulky shell. Even with all of that weight on its back, it's quite agile. At least now Searcher will have some decent competition. He's probably been itching for a decent fight since yesterday's conflict with the Onix.

"Use Magical Leaf," Gardenia orders her Turtwig.

The reptile Pokémon rears up on its hind legs and swings its head in a circle, launching leaves produced from the sprout on its head. Searcher doesn't even attempt to avoid the attack; he allows the attack to leave scratches on his exoskeleton, although the wounds don't appear to bother him at all. "Good luck with _that_ strategy," he scoffs, repeating his previous slamming attack.

"You're not using Twineedle anymore?" I ask Searcher, a little bit confused. I thought he was always boasting about how Twineedle was his best attack.

"Not at the moment," he replied, with a dismissive wave of his unbound stinger. "You'll see."

The Turtwig bounces around a little bit more. The Leech Seed Cherubi had given Searcher is probably absorbing his energy again. Knowing Searcher, though, it could take a while before he collapses, or at least before he's too tired to fight.

"Try Grass Knot now," Gardenia suggests to her Pokémon.

Turtwig plants its feet on the ground as if it's going to charge. Searcher braces himself against the earth as well. In about half a second, vines begin sprouting from the grass beneath his feet. One binds itself around his ankle, but within moments he rises into the air, tearing himself free from the attack. If it hurt him at all, he doesn't show it. (By now I've learned that Searcher isn't the type who shows pain very much.)

He doesn't bother landing. "Gotta try harder than that to catch me," he sings as he descends upon Turtwig again, his stingers bared. The repetitive tackling attacks are clearly wearing the reptile out, but it refuses to give up fighting.

Gardenia grimaces, as though she wants to say "that didn't work" but is too focused to voice her concerns right now. "Use Magical Leaf again," she tells Turtwig, her volume starting to fall.

_Maybe Searcher has a type advantage,_ I observe as Turtwig tosses more of the leaves in my Pokémon's direction. Again, they leave horizontal marks on Searcher's torso and abdomen, but he pays them no heed as he rushes once more at Turtwig. Unlike the previous two attacks, this charge sends Turtwig barreling backwards a few feet, and it has to pick itself up from a heap in the grass.

"What _is_ that attack, anyway?" I inquire, my eyes following Searcher as he lowers himself to the ground.

"It's called Rage," Searcher answers with a smile in his ocean-blue eyes. "It gets more powerful every time I get hit by an attack. These Grass-type moves aren't very effective against me, so I can take quite a few and Rage myself to victory before I go down!" He strikes one of his signature poses again, leaning against one of his legs while pointing his stingers asymmetrically into the air.

"That's frustrating," Gardenia muttered, although for some weird reason she didn't sound all that irritated. "Okay, try Razor Leaf."

Turtwig uses the same motion to toss leaves again, though these ones are a little bit different. Not only are they not magic, but they're shaped different. Judging by the name of the attack, they're probably sharper as well.

The Razor Leaves brush past Searcher and leave considerably deeper marks, even drawing some insect blood. Still, the Beedrill refuses to acknowledge the attack. I wonder how badly hurt he really is – he could probably keep fighting forever as long as he was standing up… which could be a while.

"That _does_ sting a little," Searcher admits. "But then again, so do I!" As he finishes the exclamation he charges Turtwig once more, slashing down with his stingers. Turtwig is just about flattened to the ground. When Searcher flits back to his position, Turtwig doesn't rise back to its feet. It stares at him from its position on the ground as if to say "you win" and then closes its eyes.

Gardenia frowns a little bit, but somehow manages to keep the smile on her face at the same time. She turns her gaze back to her last Pokémon. "Okay, Roserade. Your –"

"Excuse me."

A loud voice sounds from the front of the Gym, and the doors slam open. In struts Saturn like a rooster, hands on his hips as his two grunts follow behind him. "So sorry to interrupt," (he doesn't sound sorry at all) "but I'm looking for somebody."

"Team Galactic!" Gardenia explains, advancing a few steps. "What are you crooks doing here?"

Saturn's narrowed eyes fall on me. I hold my ground, staring right back as strongly as I can. "So we meet again," he snarls, pointing at me. "You there. Team Galactic needs to borrow one of your Pokémon."

"Like _that_ will ever happen," I scoff at him, crossing my arms. Gabrias is still standing behind me – good, he can be a surprise for this guy. He is squeaking a little, though… hopefully Saturn won't notice.

"Would you like me to knock out your precious Pokémon again?" Saturn asks venomously, reaching for a Poké Ball at his belt. Simultaneously he nods at his two companions, probably some sort of cue.

I shrug it off. "Go ahead and try," I challenge him. I can't help but smile a little bit – it's going to be fun watching his Kadabra fall at the hands of a tiny little Gible.

"He won't if I can help it," Gardenia offers, motioning towards Saturn. "Roserade, you go help."

The graceful Grass-type Pokémon steps forward with a twirl, folding its arms across its front. It looks like it's about to prepare attack when suddenly a couple of Zubats flit across its head. Surprisingly, they're almost bigger than Roserade itself. The flowery Pokémon tries to swat them away with its slender arms, but the Zubats only take the opportunity to each snatch an arm in their tiny fangs and pin their opponent to the ground.

"Roserade!" Gardenia calls. She's just about helpless now, though – I already knocked out her other two Pokémon. Team Galactic just has some bad timing.

"Don't worry," I assure the Gym leader, and then turn back to Saturn. By now he has sent out his Kadabra, and its tail is lashing as much as such a big tail can move without knocking over its owner.

"If you insist on starting a fight," Saturn urges, "let's get started right away."

"You asked for it," I warn him before glancing back to my Gible. "Gabrias, show them what you can do."

A sparkle in his wide eyes, the Ground-type dragon squeaks loudly and bounces forward as though springs are attached to his feet, baring his fangs at the Kadabra in a countenance that's more adorable than it is scary.

Saturn huffs. "You're challenging me with _that_ tiny little guy?"

Gabrias nods enthusiastically, giving another little jump. Evidently he doesn't mind being called short.

"All right, then." Saturn motions towards Gabrias. "Kadabra, use Shock Wave."

The fox Pokémon growls a little and raises its spoon in its clawed hands, the utensil crackling with familiar electric energy. In half a second a beam of the energy fires at Gabrias and reflects in his eyes comically. The zap crackles down his body for a minute, but the dragon doesn't move at all. He scratches his head with a stubby arm after the energy fades as if he felt only a tickle – which he probably did.

Saturn frowns, his eyes widening in shock. "That's strange."

I'm about to open my mouth to command Gabrias when Akumu's voice sounds gently in my ear. "Tell him to use Dragon Rage."

…Oh right. I didn't know what moves Gabrias has. I guess I should trust Akumu on this one, though.

"Gabrias, use Dragon Rage," I command, transferring Akumu's orders.

The Gible makes a happy clucking noise and then bounces into the air. The instant he lands, he dashes at Kadabra, swiping at the fox's face with his tiny (but still painful) claws. Kadabra cringes away from the attack, its free hand moving to cover its scratched-up face.

"Take that," I mumble. Copying Searcher's attitude lifts my heart a little bit.

Squeaking triumphantly, Gabrias returns to his previous position, raising his short arms. He bounces his knees a little bit, filled to the teeth with confidence.

Saturn grimaces. "This is an unfortunate turn of events," he growls, glaring down at his injured Pokémon. "Kadabra, find some other way to attack it. And hurry."

Slowly removing its hand from its face, Kadabra lifts its spoon again. Its eyes shine red slightly, as though somebody moved a spotlight in front of it, and it points the spoon towards Gabrias. The Gible stares at Kadabra innocently for a while before he suddenly starts shaking his head as though he has water in his ears. When whatever the attack is is over, he gives his head a final swing and turns his wide black eyes back to Kadabra. A slight frown curls at the corners of his mouth – he still has fighting spirit, but he doesn't like having his mind assaulted. Maybe Kadabra is a Psychic-type.

"Now use Tackle," I tell Gabrias. A relatively basic attack, but it works.

Nodding and squeaking, Gabrias charges Kadabra again, but this time leaps headlong into its torso. The fox Pokémon is easily winded – it falls backwards onto its oversized tail and finally topples to the ground, defeated.

"Impossible!" Saturn exclaims, staring at his fallen Pokémon for a few seconds before recalling it back to its Poké Ball. He slams the ball back into his belt with a furious frown. "You'll pay for this soon," he snarls, transferring his glare to me. "And you" – he points at Akumu now – "will be coming with me next time, so prepare for that." He turns on his heels and leads his two grunts out the door, slamming it shut noisily behind them as energetically as they did coming in.

I blink, glancing back at my Darkrai. "What does he mean by that?" Not only that, but why would he want to kidnap Akumu?

The Dark-type looks as shocked as I do. He shrugs slowly. "I have absolutely no idea. Probably just Team Galactic up to their usual criminal antics."

"You're probably right." I shrug as well, relaxing a little bit. Akumu is most likely powerful enough that no Team Galactic member would be able to steal him back to their base anyway.

"Well done," Gardenia comments from behind me. I turn around – I practically forgot that I was even inside the Gym. Well, now I can forget about that Team Galactic incident. Hopefully I can forget about them wanting to capture Akumu, too.

"Anyway," she continues, "after that little interruption…"

"We should finish our battle," I finished for her, wearing a smile. Saturn's intervention was already starting to slip out of my mind.

"Roserade, are you up for it?" Gardenia asks, glancing back at her sole remaining Pokémon.

Roserade looks at both of its arms – they're rather scratched up by the Zubat's fangs. It probably struggled a little bit while I was busy fighting Saturn. To be honest, I had no clue that it was almost smaller than a Zubat…

After apparently thinking for a little bit, Roserade shakes its head despondently. I can imagine that it would be slightly perturbed from that attack, especially if its arms are its main source of power. I can imagine it would summon the Magical Leaf move from the flowers that functioned as its hands.

"Oh? That's too bad." Gardenia turns her eyes down a little bit. "We'll have to get those bites of yours fixed up. As for you…" She looked back at me again, and the smile returned to her fiery orange eyes. "Even without fighting Roserade, you've definitely earned the Forest Badge. Your Pokémon displayed a lot of strength while fighting me, as well as that crook Saturn. Thanks for kicking them out of my Gym, by the way." She winked as she reached into a pocket on her shorts and produced a badge similar to the one Roark had given me. It was the same size, but was a green color rather than brown, and consisted of three quadrilaterals resembling oversimplified trees.

"Oh, thanks." I pluck the badge from her hand as she holds it out to me. Fortunately I had obtained a purse-like case emblazoned with a fire emblem after I fought Roark and found out that I'd have to be obtaining all these tiny little trinkets. "I guess… it's off to the next Gym, then."

"That's in Hearthome City," Gardenia tells me. "It's a long way there, though. If you start now you won't make it until after dark."

"Hearthome," I echo, smiling a little bit wider now. "I've been there for Contests before. It _is_ a long way away. I guess I'll spend another night here, then."

"Good idea," Gardenia agrees. "Oh, and good luck on your journey. You still have six more Gyms to fight, and they only get harder from here."

"Six," I repeat again. "Yeah, that's what I guessed. I'll have to start training, then… Bye!"

Gardenia waves as I exit the Gym, my five Pokémon following behind me.

We spend the rest of the day in relaxation, but our eyes were still drifting warily to the Team Galactic facility on the north edge of the city. Hopefully Saturn wouldn't come back for us again anytime soon… he had to have more Pokémon than just Kadabra. Maybe he left them at the building, since he assumed that capturing Akumu would be easy.

That invoked a question in me, though. What would Team Galactic want with Akumu? He had never fought them or anything. The only reason the criminals would want to bring him back with them is if they knew he was a Pokémon, and a mighty powerful one at that. I wonder how they would have figured that out. Maybe one of the grunts, or possibly Saturn himself, is familiar enough with the legend of Darkrai to see the resemblance between Akumu's Pokémon and human form. If that's true, we'll have to be extra careful when Team Galactic is around from now on. We wouldn't want them spreading fear wherever they went because of a rumor that a fifteen-year-old Pokémon Trainer was traveling with the Lord of the New Moon…

Akumu and I are the only two in the room awake later that night. Akumu is probably making a conscious effort to keep the rest of the Pokémon asleep. He doesn't appear to want to rest himself, though. I hope that Team Galactic didn't make him too anxious by threatening to kidnap him. If that happened, his fear of humans would only get worse. He doesn't need to be scared of humans any more – if he was he might be too frightened to walk around with me all of the time.

I finally decide to ask him. "You're not starting to get scared of Team Galactic now, are you?"

"I don't know," Akumu sighs. He's sitting at the foot of the bed with his legs folded in front of him. "I don't want them to take me away."

"They won't," I assure him, trying to keep my voice low. "Even if I did let them get to you for some reason – and they're only doing that over my dead body, by the way – you could always put them to sleep or something. You're not weak, Akumu."

"I know that," Akumu responds. "But I wouldn't be able to keep them unconscious long enough without letting people notice me. Even if I did, putting people to sleep all over the place would catch Cresselia's attention and not just that of Team Galactic. I don't even know why –"

"What is it?" I inquire. Akumu doesn't usually cut off in the middle of his sentences.

He turns his visible, shining ice-blue eye towards me. "Do you think this is about that Red Chain those two grunts mentioned earlier?"

I pause to think for a moment. I had forgotten that Team Galactic even mentioned the Red Chain. "Maybe. But I have no clue what the Red Chain is, so we shouldn't worry about it for now."

"I guess you're right." Akumu sighs again. "There aren't any stories among us Pokémon that mention a Red Chain. If it's a human-made object, it probably won't bring the whole world to ruin for a few years." A vague semblance of a smile forms in his eyes. "Humans are scary but powerful creatures, aren't they?"

"…Sure." Being a human myself, I don't know how to answer that question, so I try to stay vague. Again, I don't want to offend Akumu, with him being the powerful Lord of the New Moon. It's strange to think that he'd be scared of people, when really the relationship should be the other way around. It actually goes both ways, now that I think about it…

Akumu falls silent again. He still doesn't move from his spot by the foot of the bed, though.

I try to change the subject. "I'm tired. Are you going to sleep too? Or did you want to go for another walk?"

"…I'll probably sleep," Akumu answers finally. "As long as you don't let Team Galactic in here."

"Why would I do that? Surely they're not bad enough to try to break into a hotel room. The police would be on them in seconds."

"…I don't know. I just don't like them. Do me a favor and beat them up whenever you see one that's weak enough to fight so I don't have to do it and create all of this chaos with Cresselia."

Eventually Akumu does get to sleep. At least I do, and I hope he does. The reassuring thing is that when I get up in the morning, he's already getting ahead on his sleeping in.


	9. Crossing Mount Coronet

As Gardenia suggested, we start for Hearthome City early the next day. I've traveled this route from Canalave before, so the Pokémon and I (excluding Searcher and Gabrias) know how tough of a route it can be to cross. For one part, we have to cross either over or under Mt. Coronet, which can be harder than our hike in Wayward Cave the other day. Usually it takes a very long time to get to Hearthome going that route, but it would take even longer to try to circle around Celestic Town and go through Solaceon. In this case, the tougher route is shorter and most likely less stressful.

After breakfast we return almost to Oreburgh past Wayward Cave and then start to turn east before we can get to the southern city. Fortunately, we have no more encounters with Team Galactic. I imagine Akumu is the most relieved by this – judging by his behavior last night he was probably expecting to have another run-in with them on our way out of Eterna City.

The trip down the route is relatively easy, since a vast majority of the path is downhill. The difficult part is going to be following the tunnel that passes through the inside of Mt. Coronet. It's a winding tunnel and, of course, since it's on the inside of a mountain, it gets very dark. I imagine that Akumu is going to have to lead us through again. Oh, well – once we get out of that tunnel, he can take a break. There aren't nearly as many dark places on the east side of Sinnoh. In fact, I've never been to one over there… I haven't traveled much farther than Hearthome City, though.

I recognize the familiar curve of the route as it starts to gain elevation again – a telltale sign that we're nearing the mountain. I hope that Searcher and Gabrias aren't too tired from our hiking so far, because we're not nearly to the hardest part yet.

The ground grows rough and rocky beneath our feet as we approach the peak that's gradually heightening in the distance. Soon the path levels out in turn for the peak becoming an all-too-real mountain that looms before us. A gaping hole is open in its side: the entrance to the tunnel that will take us to eastern Sinnoh and thus to Hearthome City.

"It looks like you're up again, Akumu." I allow him to advance a few steps ahead of me while Aleta slows down a little bit to fire up her Heal Pulse. It glows steadily in her hands even before we lapse into the darkness of the tunnel. This is a relatively frequented route by Trainers – at least compared to the other caves we've passed through – and so there are a few lights of some sort embedded into the walls, but they're not enough to do any more than tell which direction to turn once you smack into solid rock. Fortunately I have my Pokémon with me, or I'd probably be stuck in here for a while.

My group of Pokémon forms into a tightly knit clump as we advance into the murk. The Pokémon stay far enough behind me that I can feel their presence, but not their bodies. Akumu, on the other hand, refuses to let me lag more than a step behind him, almost as though he's afraid of the dark (which I know is impossible, since he's a Darkrai). He's most likely still shaken up from yesterday's encounter with Team Galactic. He still hasn't mentioned it since last night, but it's not impossible that it's still hanging over his mind like a storm cloud. If I were a Pokémon and Team Galactic had threatened to capture me next time they saw me, I would be frightened as well. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on Akumu for a while. I didn't imagine that such a strong legendary Pokémon would find good reason to be so afraid of humans when they should be easy just to wipe out with one attack.

I try in vain to see any semblance of life in this cave. With the help of Aleta's Heal Pulse, I can make out the outlines where a wall turns into another path, or even a puddle (light reflects off of water quite easily), but that's about it. No doubt Zubats and Geodudes live in here also, but Akumu is probably leading us around them, since I haven't seen or heard any so far. Either that or he's scaring them all off. Surely they can tell when a Pokémon is approaching, even when he's disguising himself as a human.

Gabrias squeaks continuously behind me. The little guy is probably getting tired of walking on those stubby legs all of the time. I'm not strong enough to carry him, though. I hear a quiet grinding noise as he drags his claws on the ground, and then it's silenced. Uma or Searcher probably decided to carry him for me, which is nice.

The group continues, with Akumu still practically clinging to me, along many winding passages with several ups and downs. Even if I could see in the dark it would probably still be impossible to tell where to go, judging by the directions of the path. I commend Akumu for knowing the route so well… then again, we've been this way several times, and even if we hadn't there's no way for any of us to tell whether or not he was getting lost. This mountain was just like one giant labyrinth.

After at least an hour of darkness the team and I notice a stronger light ahead – the light signaling the exit of the passage. Akumu picks up the pace as if he can sense that the other Pokémon are going to be anxious to return to an environment where they can see their surroundings. In another few minutes we return to the world of sunlight, where vision is once more one of the five senses. Now all that's left to do is to descend the remaining hill that leads to Hearthome City, an easy feat considering the fact that the entire path is a downward slope. Akumu pauses, presumably to look at the scenery, as we emerge from the tunnel. Aleta follows close behind, extinguishing her Heal Pulse. She's probably tired from keeping it lit for the entire journey; we'll need to visit the Pokémon Center as soon as we get to the city. Uma appears next, letting Gabrias scramble back to the ground as he stretches his limbs. Evidently he's relieved to be back in fresh air and without limits every time he wanted to extend his arms. Searcher is last to emerge from the cave, although he appears equally enthusiastic about being able to see again.

Akumu's icy gaze sweeps his peripheral vision as well – something he doesn't normally have thanks to his Darkrai hairstyle. At first he looks like he's going to relax, but then he tenses up again as he apparently notices something.

"What is it?" I ask, in the back of my mind hoping that it's not Team Galactic.

His gaze flits to a level part of the hill several feet away where a long patch of grass grows into the side of slope. It leads into thick trees probably a quarter of a mile beyond that, but the forest isn't where his icy eyes are settling. I crane my neck to follow his field of vision, but I can't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Stay here," he tells me, and then advances towards the patch of grass as though he expects a giant predatory Pokémon to leap out of it at any second. Eventually his gait gains confidents and he approaches a spot where a few rocks poke out of some plants that lean against a steeper slope. He stares down into the grass for a while and then kicks something.

"Did you find treasure?" I ask. He looked like he was about to open a chest with his foot just about now.

"No," he answers slowly, and then kicks the object harder. "It's actually a Pokémon… I think."

"You think?" I echo, eager to go see what the object could be. He did order me to stay put, though, and when Akumu doesn't want me to follow him he most likely has a good reason for it. "Shouldn't it be obvious?"

"Actually, it's not," Akumu replies, turning his eye over his shoulder to glance reassuringly at me. "At least, it's not a Pokémon I've seen before. I think it's alive, but it's not conscious right now."

"Should we come help?" I offer.

"No, I can take care of it." Akumu leans further over whatever he has found in the grass. He stares at it for another few seconds before I barely hear him whisper. "Hey, wake up."

Another several seconds pass in silence. Whatever it is is clearly having a decent nap right about now. It reminds me of Akumu in the mornings when nothing can wake him up.

"Did you hear me?" Akumu growls, although for some reason he doesn't sound angry. Almost… playful. I never thought of him as the playful type before.

Another several moments… nothing happens. He shakes his head hopelessly. "It's definitely alive, but it refuses to acknowledge my existence."

"If you had to guess, what do you think it is?" I inquire, curious to find out what this strange Pokémon could be.

"…It's definitely an Electric-type," Akumu answers. "Meaning that it probably is a Pokémon, but at the same time it looks more like some messed-up human creation."

"Electric-type." So one of the Pokémon that might try and use the Shock Wave move. Come to think of it, though, I have no clue what an Electric-type might look like; I've never seen one. "Do you think you should drag it over here?"

"That might be hard."

"…All right then. Should we just leave it alone?"

"This sounds really weird, but we should probably question it."

"Yes, that is weird. You never suggest that, Akumu."

He glances back at me again. "All right, I think it's safe to come over here now. See for yourself."

I hurry over to the spot where Akumu is standing and look down into the grass. Instantly I can tell why he wasn't able to tell whether it was a Pokémon, because it looks half mechanical. It has a human shape but is too tall to be human – at least it looks like it from this angle. Its face is relatively normal, but even that has some inhuman characteristics to it. A dark stripe runs from the bottom eyelid of each eye to its jawline, as though carved there by a knife. Its face is framed by jaw-length bone-white hair which transitions to jet-black at the tips. Past its face, its skin turns from dark tan to a metallic black – in fact, it looks as though the face doesn't even belong on the body. It has the general form of a human, but Akumu was accurate when he described it as half-mechanical. Its shoulders are accented by large dark grey caps, an equal of which also exists at the base of its throat. Several more carved lines crisscross its body in various places. Its form is defined and accented as though it was molded. It has broad shoulders and a broad chest, and long, muscular legs that end in freakishly large, reptilian feet. Its arms are equally built, with spines extending from the backs of the wrist, where the limb transitions into large, two-fingered hands with giant, hooked claws curving out of each finger, as well as the thumb. Essentially, it appears as though somebody made a Pokémon-like machine and then tore off its face only to replace it with a (somewhat) human one. The Pokémon-like creature is asleep right now, but it still looks like it could be dangerous if it went on a rampage.

"I can understand why you're confused," I tell Akumu as the rest of my Pokémon approach behind me. "I can't tell if that thing is a Pokémon or something else entirely…" Surely I've never seen such a strange living thing.

Of course, since I'm used to the creature being passed out, I practically jump out of my skin when its arm shifts a few inches. I retreat a few steps – it's probably waking up now. Akumu can handle it when it does.

From my safe distance, I watch its clawed hand slowly grip the ground, although its eyes remain closed. The fingers inspect the ground as though they're searching for a dropped coin. Eventually they do manage to get a hold and the strange creature begins to support itself on this arm, its eyelids slowly lifting to reveal thickly-lashed eyes of a pale pink color that probably doesn't exist anywhere else. It (he? she? probably he judging by its proportions) stares blankly at the ground for a while, its gaze wandering before it decides to heave itself to its unwieldy feet. Actually, it's not that much taller than Akumu, contrary to what I thought before. It still is pretty tall, though. And it's a little scary.

"So you're finally awake," the Darkrai mutters, his gaze entirely stolid as he searches the Pokémon-like thing. No suspicious objects or sign of attack. "Who and what are you anyway?"

Its eyes land on Akumu, as though it didn't see him before. It glances at me and the Pokémon as well, causing me to jump slightly. After all, it is a bit of an alien. Its mouth hangs open as though it wants to talk, but gives up and sits back down, staring at a clawed hand.

"Can you speak basic human language at all?" I interject. "Or are you a Pokémon?"

It hesitates a little bit and glances back to me as if it wants to answer. Finally, it gathers its voice and replies roughly: "I can't tell." Its voice is low and clunky as though it hasn't been used for years. At least I can conclude from its speech that it's definitely male.

"So you do talk," Akumu concludes, although he doesn't sound condescending. "How did you fall asleep so close to a human path? You should be far away from them."

"Humans?" he asks, as though it's never heard the word before. "Oh. I don't remember."

"You lost your memory?" Akumu inquires, his ice-blue eyes narrowing slightly. "Not only that, but you look mostly Pokémon and partly human. How does anything like that work?"

"Do you remember your name, at least?" I intercede again, hoping to gain some useful information from this Pokémon-like creature.

"…No," he answers finally, crossing his thick arms over his chest. "Not really… I think it was… Ze…"

"Zek…" Akumu offers, appearing to think as hard as the Pokémon-like creature is. "I remember a while ago the other Darkrais told me about a different legendary Pokémon, and its name started with 'Zek' but I don't remember the rest. It was a long time ago."

"Zek-something," the Pokémon-like creature agrees, moving from a sitting position to a kneeling one. "That definitely sounds right." His voice is getting smoother now, and he sounds considerably more human. "But I can't remember the end to save my life. I know there was more…"

Uma pokes his head into the huddle from further behind me. "Zekpoid? You look like a machine, after all."

"Zek…poid." The Pokémon-like creature tries out the fabricated word on his lips, and a bit of a smile echoes in his pink eyes. "Zekpoid. That wasn't it, but that sounds close enough… All right, then. I'm Zekpoid." Evidently gaining confidence by having a name, Zekpoid stands up again, dropping his arms to his sides. "And how did you find me here, anyway? I don't remember where I came from or anything."

"You were asleep," I answer quickly. "Akumu here saw you laying in the grass and thought it would be a good idea to get you to move out of the way of humans."

"Akumu." Zekpoid transfers his gaze to the Dark-type. "You mentioned a Pokémon called Darkrai. Does that make you a Darkrai?"

Akumu blinks, clearly taken aback at Zekpoid's perception. Either that, or he's surprised that he would let something like that slip out of his mouth unauthorized. It probably doesn't help that he has no idea who Zekpoid is, because for all we know he could be hostile. "Um, yes," he finally answers, albeit a little bit shakily. "It's supposed to be a secret, though, so don't tell anybody…"

Zekpoid blinks as well, looking just as confused as Akumu. "I won't. Legendary Pokémon are always reluctant to reveal their identity, especially to humans could exploit it." He pauses. "Wait, how did I know that?"

Akumu and I shrug simultaneously. "I don't know… logic?" I guess. "It seems logical that a rarer Pokémon would want to be more secretive so that others don't try to hunt him down."

"Probably." Zekpoid dismisses the question from his mind. "Anyway, now that you guys found me, I might as well try to figure out where I am." He puts his oversized hands on his narrow hips – an amusing but slightly strange image for a being of his proportions.

That brings another question to my mind. "Are you half-Pokémon or what?" I ask, with a conscious attempt not to sound too intrusive.

Zekpoid drops his gaze to the ground again. He folds his hand over and looks at the back first, and then the palm. He flexes his two stocky fingers and the thumb that matches them. "I don't know," he confesses. "Probably. I don't have any memories of being either Pokémon or human, or any memories at all for that matter."

"So you're a species all by yourself." I hear a muffled smack as Aleta shoves Uma aside for the comment.

"I guess I am," Zekpoid concurs slowly. "I'm a Zekpoid." He chuckles a little bit, a noise with a low ring to it that probably echoes from somewhere deep in his hollow-looking torso.

"What are we going to do with him?" Searcher pipes up from behind me. "Now that we found this Zekpoid, we can't exactly just leave him here."

"…That's a good question," I respond cautiously. I fold my arms across my front as I start my brain thinking. Who knows what the consequences would be if we just sent Zekpoid off on his own? For one thing, his amnesia might affect how he operates. He may or may not remember what he eats or how he's supposed to live. Also, most people would probably be unsettled if they saw this alien-looking Zekpoid walking around.

"We could take him along with us," Akumu suggests. "Perhaps getting some motion in his limbs will clear his head."

"Can we take this many Pokémon?" I ask, trying to recall the team limit for Pokémon Trainers. Was it five? Six? Seven?

"We don't know that he's a Pokémon at all," Aleta points out. "Other than increasing our group size, I don't see any harm in taking Zekpoid with us until we find an alternative."

"Where _are_ you going, anyway?" Zekpoid intercedes, his eyes straying from me to Aleta and then to the other team members. "You have quite the collection of Pokémon with you."

"It's a long story," Akumu replies, "but essentially we're building up our skills by training Pokémon and eventually we're going to challenge these people called the Pokémon League." He shrugs, evidently not understanding the motives of us humans. "But we have an island to save before that."

"Hm." Zekpoid's eyes wandered to the top of the mountain, and then back down to their previous level. "That sounds like quite the journey. I bet you get to travel all over the world."

"Just the Sinnoh region," I told Zekpoid. "But it's still a big place. Are you interested in accompanying us?"

He drops his arms. "I am. I'd definitely like to see this world in which I've ended up. You had a good point when you asked what alternatives there are, too. I don't really have anywhere else to go, so I might as well follow along with you wherever you go."

"All right, glad to have you!" Aleta lilts, stepping forward. "We were heading for Hearthome City, we can have a stop there if you want to rest or have something to eat."

Zekpoid put one clawed hand to the back of his head. "Well, I just was resting, so I probably won't need to sleep for very long, but I guess food is a good idea."

We lead Zekpoid down the rest of the hill and through a small meadow to the gatehouse that connects to Hearthome City. I noticed that Zekpoid's walk is a little bit different from that of a human's; his feet are larger in proportion to his body than those of a human, so his steps are somewhat wider and larger in turn.

This gives me another idea. At first I sound it out in my head, but I consider it important enough to let the others hear it. "Have you guys considered that other people might think it's a bit weird to see a Zekpoid walking around with a Pokémon Trainer? To be honest, he doesn't look like your average gijinka."

I turn my eyes up to him. Zekpoid glances down at his hands self-consciously, folding them over in front of him a few times. "I guess so," he murmurs, shifting his weight unevenly between his three-toed feet. "I mean, I don't know if I can change form or anything… if I knew whether I could, I wouldn't know how, either…"

Akumu's frigid blue eyes slide across me, and then Zekpoid. They pause on Zekpoid for a moment before meeting mine. "Lucidia, I have an idea. I'm going to need some of your money, though."

I blink slowly. "Why… why would _you _need my money?"

"Zekpoid should have a cloak," the Darkrai responds urgently, advancing towards me a step. His crystalline blue eyes bore down on me like a pair of icicles, only accenting the intensity of his statement. Actually, it's more like a command than a statement.

I shy away, trying to duck from Akumu's icy gaze. "All right… you know not to—"

"Get anything expensive," Akumu finishes impatiently. As I remove the case from my pocket he literally plucks it out of my hand and races out the other end of the gatehouse faster than I'd ever seen him run.

I carefully look to Aleta, and then Uma and Searcher. "Any clue what just happened?"

Zekpoid is just as wide-eyed as I am. "No. That's strange behavior for a Darkrai, though. Does he always act like that?"

Some heat rises to my face again. "No, he's actually never done that before." Why should _I _be embarrassed for what Akumu does? I guess since he's my Pokémon, he's my responsibility. Just then, though, it seemed more like I was the Pokémon and he was the Trainer (which is definitely not true – if I were a Pokémon I would have figured it out by now).

Faster than I can regain my wits, Akumu glides back into the gatehouse, shutting the wide door behind him with his free hand. His other hand is occupied with a large black lump, which he unfolds into what I guess is a large cape and sets hurriedly around Zekpoid's sturdy neck. Zekpoid clamps the ends between his claws and pulls it over his front; it falls almost to his feet, but it's not so long that he is in danger of stepping on it. Now, apart from where the skin on his jaw fades into the black steel-like substance, he looks somewhat like a normal human. At least he could more easily pass for a gijinka now.

"Thanks, Akumu." He nods towards the Darkrai, who bows his head in return but otherwise shows no acknowledgement. There's the old Akumu I was looking for – dark enough to live up to his name, but not noticeably scary.

With that predicament solved, Zekpoid follows us confidently out of the gatehouse into Hearthome City. I still remember the place from when I last visited it for a Contest, making it easy for us to head straight for the Pokémon Center. On the way, we can see the giant Contest Hall over the tops of the other buildings. The sight of it is comforting somehow, although this time it won't be one of our major stops. A ways south of the Contest Hall is the Gym, dressed in eerie purples and grays to contrast the warmer, more welcoming tones of the surrounding city. I can already guess that the Pokémon inside are going to be creepy as well.

Fortunately none of the other Trainers passing us in the city appear to be giving us any weird looks. Zekpoid blends in relatively well, even for his size. I guess a little over six feet isn't all that tall, but it might still draw attention in some places.

We successfully make it to the Pokémon Center without any interruption. As we wander in, there's something on the news about Team Galactic, but it sounds normal enough to me that I disregard it instantly. Akumu lags behind for a few seconds to listen, but he relaxes soon as well. If Akumu doesn't react, it must not be that important.

I double-check with my team members to make sure they're all right before we claim a table by the far window. Zekpoid appears anxious to recline again, even though he was sleeping soundly when we found him. He leans his white-framed head against the glass and folds his arms underneath his black cloak. If he really had been slumbering before, he showed no sign of it.

That night I have to get a room larger than what I'm used to in which to stay. It not only has to accommodate my four Pokémon, Akumu and me but also Zekpoid, who takes up as much space as another human, if not more.

Akumu slept in again the next morning – a good sign. The worries of Team Galactic seem to have all but disappeared from his mind.

As it turns out, the Hearthome City Gym is a little too advanced for me. Even the preliminary Trainer in the Gym gives my team a hard time, so I retreat to do some training with my Pokémon. The next town over, Solaceon, is not very busy, but there are suitable Trainers and wild Pokémon north of it, so the team and I decide to head there.

On our way to the south end of Hearthome City, we cross paths with a Trainer I've never seen before. He does want to fight, though, and I'm not about to steal a good practice opportunity from my Pokémon. The difficult part about this fight, though, is that it's a method called a Triple Battle. I've had enough trouble with the Double Battle format against Team Galactic before, but this time I have to control three Pokémon at once. I've chosen Uma, Searcher and Gabrias. The other Trainer uses a trio of Pokémon that all seem to match – monkey-like ones that appear to represent Fire, Water, and Grass. Due to the complexity of the battle, it lasts longer than I expect, but I do eventually emerge victorious.

Worn out from the fight, we continue east towards Solaceon. The route leading there is dotted with trees, grass and streams, which flow into a river that heads for the horizon at the far south. More fishermen cast their lines off the piers, hoping to catch the largest Magikarp. The scene reminds me of the bridge back home at Canalave. I recall the last time I crossed that bridge, with Uma, Aleta and Akumu as my only companions. My group seems so much larger now… now that I have Searcher and Gabrias, and even Zekpoid. I like having so many friends, but I'm guessing that it can get difficult to manage all of these Pokémon.

Zekpoid's pale pink eyes wandered along the route. He clenched his cloak close to his stout neck, hiding everything except for his boot-like feet. "This is a nice place," he comments quietly. He is entirely unfamiliar with this world (apparently), so it's good that he can stay somewhere peaceful for a while. He is still oblivious to the existence of Team Galactic. He can learn about them when they show up again, but for now I don't want to spoil his childlike innocence.

"Wait until we get to Solaceon Town," I tell him. "It's small, but it's natural. It looks a lot like this, actually… but with buildings."

"Solaceon," Akumu echoes, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "I remember Solaceon. It smells good there, and the wind is always cool and fresh."

Solaceon Town was the farthest I had taken my Pokémon from Canalave. Contests were not usually held there, but it was a nice place to stay. After the stress of performing in front of a crowd, we often stopped by Solaceon for a short day's worth of rest before returning to the Mt. Coronet passage. It was better than going hiking again right after a draining Contest, anyway.

Of course, there is always the crumbling tower on the bank of this river. It has an ominous feeling about it, but as far as I know nothing is going to jump out and eat us. I make no effort to avoid it; we pass by calmly.

A few more Trainers are milling about on the route as well, training their Pokémon against wild ones or battling each other. Still, compared to the rest of Sinnoh, it's not a very crowded place. I like to relax in the nature of it, as I'm sure my Pokémon do after visiting several times.

Some Staravia are fluttering between the trees, their singing cries filling the air once I listen for them. I follow them with my eyes. As I watch one, my gaze lands on a tall white tower I don't remember seing before. How long has it been there? Maybe I just don't pay enough attention.

"Do any of you recall that tower being there?" I ask my Pokémon, pointing.

Akumu's icy blue eyes glide to the top of the structure. "Yes, we've seen it before," he answers. "We've just never been inside."

"I think that was because it's supposed to be haunted," Uma suggests, his black eyes also landing on the lonesome-looking tower.

Gabrias squeaks anxiously behind me. It's not a very happy noise – he must be afraid of ghosts for some reason. I can imagine his wide, marble-like eyes creeping nervously to the human structure and then returning to the ground, seeking to avoid the sight of it for as long as possible.

"Haunted doesn't sound scary to me," Searcher scoffs, tossing back his head. "I can fight those Ghost Pokémon as easily as I can fly."

"Really?" I glance at the cobalt-eyed Beedrill. "Do you have a type advantage?"

He halts suddenly. "No, actually I have a type _dis_advantage…" His feet gradually begin to move again after his voice trails off. "But I'm still not scared of any old ghosts."

"Good. Then you can fight all of the biggest ones in the Hearthome Gym."

"No way!" Searcher's ocean-blue eyes glare at me playfully, "Not with my ineffective moves. I'll help, but I won't do it all myself."

"I'm just teasing, Searcher." Still, my gaze can't help but linger on the tower as we reach the peaceful Solaceon Town.


	10. When I Least Expect It

Fortunately, there is no sign of Team Galactic anywhere near Solaceon Town. Even the ruins are completely uninhabited, except by the strange Pokémon known as Unown. Those don't pose any sort of threat, though.

The Pokémon north of the town include Staravia, a fire-horse one known as Ponyta, and a giant fighting mantis called Scyther, which is also the most elusive Pokémon there. Geodudes like to congregate around the hills that rise out of the tall grass every so often. Using the wild Pokémon as practice (as is standard for most Pokémon Trainers, I've learned) gives my team some decent experience – especially Gabrias, who overall hasn't gotten to fight much. By the time the next day is over, the Pokémon are worn out and we're ready to return to Hearthome City to take another stab at the Gym.

Searcher insists on stopping by the tower, however. He convinces us to take a detour and at least take a peek into the first floor. Gravestones inhabit the ground inside, which consists of evenly trimmed grass with some worn spots where people have walked before. Occasionally a flash of black shows near the wall or above a grave marker, signaling the presence of a Ghost Pokémon. Other than that, I decide that there's nothing of interest in here and pull my Pokémon outside.

We head back to Hearthome and make a beeline for the Gym. We pass by the first Trainer again, but he won't fight us since we already won. Fortunately there are more inside the puzzle of the building, which provide even more practice for my Pokémon. Eventually I get the hang of fighting Ghost-type Pokémon, discovering that Normal-type moves won't affect them (they slide straight through the ghosts' gaseous bodies). That's going to be a vital piece of information for the battle with the Gym Leader.

Eventually that fight does arrive. The Gym Leader is a showy purple dancer-woman named Fantina with some Pokémon of the same color as her sparkly clothing. Surprisingly for Ghost Pokémon, they prove to have extraordinary endurance. Searcher is knocked out of the battle almost instantly, and all of my other Pokémon have a shaky start in fainting Fantina's team. Akumu and Zekpoid watch nervously from the sidelines. Eventually Aleta's stamina proves to be too much for her Mismagius and the Alomomola emerges victorious, winning another shiny badge for my case.

We return to Solaceon later that day. Solaceon turns out to be on the way to the next Gym, which is in Veilstone City. Veilstone is a considerable distance even from Solaceon, though, so we spend another night in the peaceful town.

That evening Akumu requests that I come outside with him for another walk. This time, though, it's not because he's afraid; it's simply because he wants me to experience the cool Solaceon air when the sun isn't there to burn it up. I have to admit, it is relaxing to be outside at such a late hour, although it is quite cold. Winter is only approaching faster at this point. It's surprising that Akumu doesn't want to postpone his midnight strolls for a warmer season – he's never seemed like the type to retain heat very well. The low temperature doesn't appear to bother him, though. He's as calm as ever in the black night, with only the moonlight reflecting out of his ice-blue eyes revealing his presence. There's also the vague sensation of warmth from somewhere adjacent to me, but I'm not close enough right now to confirm its shape. All I know is that it's most likely Akumu.

Even though I stayed up late, the next morning greets me ready to continue. Akumu, for whatever reason, rouses from his sleep at a proper time and follows us downstairs without complaint of his wake-up time.

We head north again, at some point turning east and passing yet another mountainous route until we reach Veilstone. A light raincloud hangs over the route and drizzles some of its contents on top of us, but by the time we step into the city the precipitation lets up. In Veilstone, though, rain is hardly a concern compared with what we find there.

Akumu halts abruptly almost the instant he walks inside. His visible crystalline eye widens with evident fear. "Team Galactic," he breathes, clearly too shocked to tear them apart right now. After all, after their remote presence in Jubilife and Eterna we hardly expected to see them again, much less on completely the opposite side of the region.

Zekpoid's pale pink eyes narrow and sweep across my Pokémon and me. "Team Galactic?" he echoes, already taking distaste for the term. "What's that?"

"Basically a bunch of criminals who don't mind hurting Pokémon or stealing to get what they want," I explain. "They're strong, too. Too strong for me to ward off, at least. They also seem to want to kidnap Akumu for whatever reason." I glanced nervously at the Darkrai, who was still cowering by the door to the gatehouse.

"Kidnap Akumu." Zekpoid's cloak lowered as he crossed his arms in front of his broad chest. "He _is_ a legendary Pokémon. They probably want to use his power for something."

"They don't have to pick on _him,_ though," I retorted, although I was losing ground even in this short argument.

"Maybe they do. He's probably easy to get to because you're walking around with him all the time. Other legendary Pokémon tend to stay as far away from humans as possible, don't they?"

My gaze fell to the floor. "I guess they do. But Akumu can't help it…"

"That's true."

Silence. Chances are nobody has any clue what to do anymore. From the looks of it, Team Galactic has a strong presence in this city. Otherwise they wouldn't have a giant building occupying essentially the entire north side of Veilstone (and this is quite the big city).

"If we stay here, we're going to be easy targets," Aleta pipes up carefully. Even the Alomomola, who is usually the calmest, is now worried. "Doubtless those Team Galactic guys have gotten stronger along with us… and Saturn thrashed us pretty bad that first time."

"We probably shouldn't stay here, then," Searcher agrees, his cobalt eyes darting around anxiously. "We can challenge this Gym after we solve this whole Team Galactic problem. No use putting the whole team in danger just for the sake of a badge."

"You're right, Searcher," I finally relent. "If Team Galactic has more than a weak hold on this city, we're better off not staying here. Sorry, guys…" Somehow refusing to stay in a city even as dangerous as this gave me the feeling that I was letting my Pokemon down.

"It's all right," Uma assured me. "We'll just keep getting stronger, and then we'll come back and kick Team Galactic right out into space where they belong."

This joke brings a smile to my face. The Seadra is right, too; this isn't a problem that some more training won't fix. We'll just have to come back later, then.

We turn back for Solaceon Town. The instant we leave the other end of the gatehouse and are facing away from Veilstone City, Akumu lets out whatever breath he had been holding, his shoulders relaxing considerably. There's no doubting that even the thought of coming across Team Galactic bothers him a lot.

This sets my mind thinking as we head towards the peaceful town. Why would Akumu be so scared of humans if he's potentially so much stronger than them? I can understand his fear of provoking the Cresselia he mentioned earlier, but Team Galactic isn't going to jump out of the shadows and grab him the moment he stops thinking about them. Surely with his expanse of abilities there's something he can do to weaken them that won't attract Cresselia's undue attention. Doesn't he know any moves he can use even while disguising himself as a human? I'd probably have to ask him, being the Pokemon novice that I am. Logically, he most likely wouldn't know any such moves, because I had never seen him use them and so he didn't have any practice like Aleta did. Surely just existing in his Pokemon form shouldn't provoke Cresselia, though… it would draw the attention of humans more, though. It seems like whatever was a solution to the Team Galactic problem creates a dilemma on the catching-Cresselia's-attention side, and vice versa. Akumu is just caught in one big, impossible predicament…

…and this predicament keeps him awake that night. I can vaguely feel his nervousness from my spot in the room, but it's not enough to keep my eyes open. I think sleepily that tonight is just another night until I feel his hand nudge me awake again. It pulls persistently at my shoulder – I know who it is before he whispers my name.

"Akumu," I mumble, still half-asleep. "What?"

"Please come walk with me."

His urgent tone surprises me awake. Even last time he asked his voice wasn't so quick and harsh. I sit up as quickly as I can without bashing him in the chin and try to focus my still-tired eyes on him. "Okay," I respond slowly. Even if the hotel caught fire, I probably wouldn't wake up after fewer than five minutes.

I slide off the bed and touch my feet slowly to the ground, still unable to quite focus properly.

"Sorry for waking you up so late, but…" For whatever reason Akumu doesn't finish the sentence, but he doesn't really need to.

"It's all right." Even if it does make me a lot more tired in the morning. "I'm not going to sit here and let my Pokemon worry."

Silence, darkness. I rely on Akumu to lead me out of the room, carefully sneaking around the Pokemon strewn across the edges of the floor like dolls. At least none of them have developed a habit of stretching themselves full-length across the hallway so that nobody can get up even if they need to.

We reach the outside within a couple of minutes. The instant we do, Akumu appears to relax considerably. He does like Solaceon air a lot, and I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed here his whole life (if he had a choice to). It's out of the way of cities and Team Galactic, that's for sure.

The cold night air brings me to my senses a little bit more. Akumu turns east and starts walking – he probably remembers that most of the trees are to the east. I can imagine that he would like to stay under the trees all night and rest in their solace, their shrouding darkness. I guess it's the sort of thing a Darkrai would like to do at night.

"You're not worried that Team Galactic will come after us all the way over here, are you?" I ask slowly. "We're a long way from Veilstone."

"Maybe," Akumu mutters. He's not trying to avoid the question – he really doesn't have an answer. "I'm just tired of having to run away from them. I wish they'd stop messing with the world so we Pokemon could just do what we want without worrying about them."

"I do too. Team Galactic are just a bunch of jerks…" I don't know whether my statement is supposed to be negative or funny, but I almost consider it both ways. Team Galactic really does consist of a bunch of crooks.

More silence. Akumu leans against the nearest tree; he looks like he might close his eyes, but they stay open and drift towards the cloudy black sky. I hug myself with my arms in an attempt to block out some of the cold.

"Should I be going back to Newmoon Island?"

Akumu's startling question breaks the silence. I glance over helplessly, expecting to see him staring at me with puppy-dog eyes. Instead, his unwavering gaze is still focused on the inky sky. I have a feeling he's being serious.

"No," I answer, although I don't have any reasoning right now.

"I'm just putting you in danger by walking around with you."

That statement does have some force behind it. Still, I can't shake the feeling that it's flawed somehow. "That doesn't mean you should leave," I insist. "The Pokemon and I like having you with us."

"I know," Akumu sighs. "But is it worth having Team Galactic chase you around? If you want I can just fly back to Newmoon Island right now."

"That's not what I want," I retort quickly. "I don't know where you got such a dumb idea."

"It was my fault that you couldn't advance to your next Gym," Akumu asserts, although his voice is strangely even and controlled as though he planned out this argument in his head beforehand.

I have to think about my response a little bit more this time; it's hard to disagree with a legendary Pokemon. "No, it isn't. You didn't ask for Team Galactic to be in Veilstone City. There's nothing any of us could do about it."

Akumu takes a while to think this over. "Except leave me behind."

"That wouldn't move them out of the city," I point out. "They'd still be keeping they're eyes on us. None of this is your fault, Akumu. Don't insist that you're the one causing it, because we don't want you to leave."

His ice-blue eyes fall to the ground again – a sign that I've finally defeated him. I barely had to say anything, but it was hard to force those words out. Something about arguing with Akumu feels really off.

"I guess I don't want to leave, either," he admits, straightening himself. "I just don't want to cost you guys your career by hanging out with you."

"You won't. We'll just keep getting stronger and everything will turn out fine."

That ends tonight's fight. I can't tell whether Akumu still doubts my position or not, but I guess it doesn't matter as long as he doesn't try to run away.

Fortunately he's still there the next morning, sleeping in as always. He shows no sign of last night's restlessness.

We make our way back towards Hearthome City to see what we can do next. Apparently there's a city by the name of Pastoria quite a ways south that also has a Gym, but some Team Galactic activity has been reported there, too. At least it doesn't sound like they have a whole base there, so there's little harm in investigating. I've never been to Pastoria City, but going somewhere new is always an adventure. The Pokemon and I begin south for our next leg of the journey. On the way we meet other Trainers and are sure to take whatever experience opportunities we can get. Disappointingly, we do lose a couple of the battles, but nobody on the team appears to care (apart from Searcher, who only stays frustrated for about ten seconds anyway). Even so, all of our fights still give us valuable experience. It's nice to have so many opportunities to strengthen my team, even when not all of them are successful. It gives me more confidence that Akumu will lose his fear of Team Galactic. After all, if I have strong companions to defend him, those criminals wouldn't want to take a step near us.

The route to Pastoria is long but scenic. There are a lot of plants: long grasses and tall trees just about as far as I can see. The southern half of the route starts to turn marshy and a little bit rainy again. The drizzle still doesn't bother us, though; the weather could be a lot worse. Besides, the rain appears to assist my Pokemon with their Water-type attacks. Perhaps some precipitation can be a good thing.

We make it to Pastoria slightly wet but overall happy. The hike was a long one, though, and the rain combined with the distance has drained my entire team. We take the opportunity to rest in the Pokemon Center. We don't see any Team Galactic grunts while gazing outside, but we try not to drop our guard. Team Galactic, as we've found, can be sneaky. Doubtless they'll pop up the moment we stop expecting them.

The Gym Leader here specializes in Water-type Pokemon. This could be a little bit of a challenge for me, since I don't have any Pokemon with a notable advantage against Water. Maybe training more would be beneficial before we try out the next Gym.

We continue east to another unfamiliar Route. This place is grassy as well as sandy and leads to the ocean, but it's too late in the year now for anybody to try swimming. A beachside resort looms in the distance. It's not somewhere I'd like to go right now – it's too distracting for us at the moment.

We're barely on the route for a few minutes when one of the Team Galactic grunts shows up. Fortunately, he doesn't notice us; we spot him first. I'd like to say we've never seen him before, but to be honest all of the spacesuit men look exactly the same. For all I know they could all be brothers.

"Should we confront him?" I ask my team, trying to sweep my eyes over all four of my Pokemon. Gabrias can get hard to spot sometimes because he's so much shorter than the three gijinka standing next to him.

"Go ahead," Akumu relents, shrugging. "We've done a lot of training today. One little grunt shouldn't be a problem. He'll probably run off to tell his boss, but by then we'll be a long way out of the way."

"Let's test out our new-found strength!" Searcher agrees, striking another one of his poses. "We'll show Team Galactic who's boss around here."

"We can handle it," Uma adds in, straightening his back. Is it just me or has he been getting taller?

Aleta raises one hand. "I'll come in and heal if anybody needs it," she offers. "I'm not letting anybody faint here, especially not against Team Galactic."

Zekpoid's pink eyes sweep over my companions. They seem to do that a lot, almost as though he plans to eat them. (So far he has maintained a good taste for human food, though.) "If I knew how, I'd definitely help… but for now I'll just have to cheer you guys on."

And so the decision was set. We were about to send out our Pokemon and fight when the grunt notices us approaching… and, surprisingly, flees north – in completely the opposite direction. The whole idea leaves me standing there blinking. Team Galactic has never fled a battle opportunity before.

"They're probably up to something," I guess, crossing my arms. "And by that I mean something bigger than their normal stealing and whatever else they do. Running away like that is seriously abnormal."

Akumu's ice-blue eyes follow the path the grunt had just taken. It leads north into a thicket of trees, and then into what looks like a giant forest. "That's where Lake Valor is, isn't it?"

"Lake Valor?" Zekpoid echoes, his pale rosy gaze tracing Akumu's. "The name doesn't sound familiar to me. What is it?"

"That's where Azelf lives. Azelf is another legendary Pokemon…" The Darkrai stares harder at the spot in which the Galactic grunt disappeared. "No, Azelf keeps itself hidden. Even Team Galactic won't be able to get to him…"

"Is something wrong?" I intercede. This sounds like another of those Team Galactic incidents Akumu would worry about…

"No," the Darkrai responds, relaxing visibly. He turns his ice-blue eyes back to me. "They underestimate the legendary Pokemon. Azelf has more readily available defense mechanisms than I do, so he'll be fine."

We turn back for Pastoria. "Who is this Azelf?"

"He's the Being of Willpower," Akumu explains. "There's nobody trying to keep him in check, so he can do just about whatever he wants to keep Team Galactic away from him… his telepathy will warn his sisters Mesprit and Uxie, too, if they ever cause enough trouble. I'm not worried about Azelf."

We train more around Pastoria City until night falls. By that point all of us – even Zekpoid, who doesn't usually fight – are tired from our day's worth of battling, so we eat our dinner and then fall asleep almost instantly.

Akumu doesn't go outside for a walk that night. Perhaps he's worn out as well. He appears to be sleeping soundly – a rare occurrence for this time of night, but it's good for him to get his rest. I'm lulled to sleep about as fast as he is, and I manage to slumber until morning arrives.

We head out for more training the next day. It seems like pretty much all we do now… I guess my tough Pokemon can't cover for me so much anymore. No more gliding along without stopping to get more experience in… oh, well. All of this training is time for me to figure out my Pokemon mechanics and type matchups. I also am starting to get the hang of what moves my Pokemon can learn. They are all learning new moves, though, which throws me off slightly. At least it isn't nearly as hard as it was a long time ago when I had no clue what moves they had in the first place.

Following a battle with a wild Shellos, I'm able to witness my first Pokemon evolution. I had read before that Pokemon evolve, but I had never gotten to see what it was like until now. Gabrias had just Tackled his squidgy enemy into submission when a white light surrounds his tiny body as though he decided that he wants to be a gijinka. At first it looks like his new form might be humanoid, since it is definitely taller, but once he reaches a reasonable height his dragon-like features are accentuated considerably. The glow faded, leaving behind a Pokemon that vaguely resembles the old Gabrias but is not nearly as awkward-looking. His limbs are longer and more flexible, although in trade for his head and jaws shrinking to a normal size. Spikes and fins have poked out of his body in many more places, including his hands, hips and back. Once he can move again he glances over his wide shoulders at me. I expect him to cry out or something, as though asking what I'm staring at, but instead he gives one of his Gible-like smiles and squeaks. Although, he doesn't squeak as much as he barks like a dog…

"Congratulations, Gabrias," I tell him, returning the smile. At least now he won't have to waddle everywhere.

We barely get in anymore training time before a voice from behind interrupts us. "Hey, you with the Pokemon."

I whirl around, expecting to see a Trainer who wants to battle. Instead I'm met by one of those ubiquitous Team Galactic grunts. Instinctively I brace my feet against the ground, going on the defensive. "If you want my Pokemon, you're in for a big fight," I snarl. Behind me, Uma and Searcher are already stepping forward. Aleta begins to bring her hands together in preparation for a Heal Pulse.

"I can fight for them," the grunt responds coolly, tossing one of his Poke Balls up and down with one hand, "but I really only need one. Hand over the Darkrai and we'll do this painlessly."

_'The Darkrai.'_ Somebody told this Galactic guy who Akumu was. My mind flashes back to the moment in Eterna City where Saturn mentioned coming back for Akumu. How long had even the lowest Team Galactic members known that I was walking around with the Lord of the New Moon?

"Only if you can defeat all of my other Pokemon first. Gabrias, show him how it's done."

The newly evolved Gabite struts forward on his much more capable legs, brandishing the sharpened fins attached to his wrists. He utters a low growl that I would more likely expect from a Houndoom, although there's no reasons dragons can't vocalize as well.

"If you insist. Go, Golbat." The Galactic grunt throws his Poke Ball into the air. With a spin it releases an oversized Zubat-looking Pokemon with a mouth occupying whatever part of its body isn't already taken over by its wings. It flutters frantically to stay airborne – maybe if I can knock it to the ground it won't pose as much of a problem.

"Golbat, use Swift," the Galactic man commands with a gentle hand motion. The flying Pokemon flaps its wings even faster (somehow) and conjures floating stars. The star-shaped rays rush straight at Gabrias and leave scratches on his fins where he guarded his pointed muzzle. He shakes himself vigorously; the attack didn't look very painful, but I'm not my Pokemon, so I have no idea what it feels like to be attacked.

"Use Dual Chop," I tell Gabrias. I had never heard of the move before ten seconds ago, but it sounded reliable, so why not try it out?

The Gabite digs his clawed feet to the ground and then rushes at Golbat, raising his slender arms as he moves. After the split second it takes him to reach his opponent, he slashes down with the sharpened fins on his wrists, smacking the bat straight in the shoulders. It stumbles in the air a bit before picking back up, although its flight is considerably clumsier. I make a mental note of Dual Chop being a good, powerful move to use.

"Now Air Cutter," the Galactic grunt orders, his pointing more energetic this time. The Golbat regains its composure and flutters its wings vigorously again, sending forward visible blades of air. This attack looks more painful than Swift, but Gabrias again refuses to acknowledge any extreme hurt it causes him. He stretches his limbs briefly while awaiting my next command.

"Dragon Rage," I tell him simply. He responds by inhaling deeply and then spurting forth a wave of what looks like fire, consuming the Golbat in orange. It flails around for a few seconds before the flames disappear and it lands on the ground, its wings drooping beside it.

"Hmph." The Galactic grunt withdraws the Golbat back into its Poke Ball and plucks another one from his belt. "Your turn, Croagunk."

He releases a Pokemon that resembles a slightly anthropomorphic purple blob with giant glaring eyes and a creepily wide smile. It looks flexible like rubber, and briefly I wonder if it has any skeletal structure.

"Gabrias, use Dual Chop again."

Shaking off the stinging from his earlier wounds, Gabrias launches forwards again and smashes down on the purplish blob with his scythe-like fins. It makes a weird noise like a five-year-old with strep throat trying to sing opera, but jumps back to its feet within moments, the strange grin returning to its wide face.

"Hit it with Revenge, Croagunk."

_Revenge._ The name of the attack echoes ominously in my mind. Sure enough, when the Croagunk punches Gabrias with one of its surprisingly strong arms, the Gabite mutters a grunt and collapses on the ground.

I don't even have to tell Aleta to hold Gabrias under his arms and drag him a safe distance backwards. Instead, I focus on my other Pokemon. "Your turn, Searcher."

Searcher's sapphire-blue eyes blink slowly. "What? Don't expect _me_ to fight. I have a serious type disadvantage here."

I sigh. Last time I checked, Pokemon didn't usually talk back to their trainers, but whatever. "Are you up for it, then, Uma?"

"Sure. I'm ready to fight anytime." Uma switches form hurriedly and swims forward, although by now he's lost the spin he used to add when he still retained his Contest experience.

"In that case, start out with Twister."

"Here goes." Evidently Uma was saving the spin for this part. He gives a little twirl as he takes in a deep breath, and then lets it out in the form of a whirlwind that lashes at the Croagunk like the blade of a chainsaw. The purplish blob Pokemon tries to shield its face but only gets its arms cut, and is eventually tossed to the ground by the force of the attack.

The Galactic grunt grumbles again and withdraws his Pokemon. "Do it, Stunky," he mumbles, sending out a familiar fluffy Pokemon. Good – I've had experience fighting Stunky before back in Jubilife City when I faced one in a Double Battle.

"You've got this, Uma," I encourage quietly, trying not to let the Galactic guy overhear my cheering on of my Pokemon. I raise my voice to tell him his move. "Use Bubblebeam."

"Now we're talking." Uma's inhale is much slower and more relaxed now as he propels an attack he has used countless times before. His narrow snout spews the all-too-familiar painful bubbles, which assault the Stunky with their popping until every single one vanishes, leaving the fluffy Poison-type growling and steaming.

"Use Slash," the Galactic grunt commands.

His Pokemon uses its rage to propel its feet, racing for Uma with its tiny claws bared. It scratches down on his front with the minuscule points, which are painful nonetheless. The Seadra cringes away from the attack and curls his tail in, but within a few seconds he relaxes again, even though he's still a little stiff.

"That hurt," he mutters, waving his fins a little bit.

"Now Water Gun."

Uma gladly obliges, now spouting a steady stream of pressurized water from his snout. This stream smacks into Stunky with considerable force, also leaving it unable to continue. (I've noticed that Team Galactic's Pokemon have powerful attacks, but their endurance isn't all that great.)

The Galactic grunt grimaces as he withdraws his final Pokemon. He lifts his glare to Akumu, and then me. "Fine. You just forced me to involve a lot more people in this… Good luck avoiding Team Galactic now. I'll see you at Spear Pillar." On that ominous note he turns on his heels and flees in the general direction of Lake Valor.


	11. Chapter 10

Akumu is sleeping in the next morning. That doesn't confirm anything, though. For all I know his fear could have kept him up all night. That thought worries me.

Our encounter with Team Galactic was double-sided. I feel more confident now that I know we can still beat them to a pulp, but I'm anxious to think that the entirety of the team could be chasing after us now. The grunt yesterday said something about a place called Spear Pillar. I don't recall hearing the name before, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't hold anything in store for us.

Zekpoid, however, does have an opinion on the matter. "Spear Pillar… I think I've heard of it before," he tells us. "It's at the top of Mount Coronet, far to the north… but that's all I can remember. It must be a fragment of the memory I lost."

I still watch the Pastoria Gym warily. The team and I attempt the preliminary Trainer's challenge, but with my apparent type disadvantages I'm still not all that confident. Plus, the dark cloud of Team Galactic's threat is hanging over my head. The more experience my Pokemon can get, the better. After all, it sounds like our main concern for now is fending off Team Galactic. If the grunt yesterday wasn't bluffing, we could have a whole lot more than just one little man on our hands.

"We can't stay here much longer," I think aloud. My Pokemon seem to agree with me – Team Galactic's involvement in the Lake Valor area is far too close to Pastoria City for comfort. Akumu suggests retreating back to Hearthome or Solaceon. Zekpoid vouches for Hearthome; Solaceon is within reasonable distance from Veilstone City, which as we know is one of Team Galactic's main headquarters. Staying there might be a little bit too risky.

Our plan decided, we skip the Gym and head back to Hearthome City. On the way, Akumu manages to catch me drifting away from the other Pokemon and seizes the chance for conversation.

"It's my fault we're being forced to run away," he mutters regretfully, his ice-blue eyes glued to the ground. His back curves in a slouch more than normal – Team Galactic must be really getting to him.

"No, it's not," I insist. We've already had this argument once before. "Nobody asked for Team Galactic to turn their focus to legendary Pokemon. Besides, we like having you with us."

Akumu nods slowly, but still doesn't look convinced.

We manage to fit in a little bit more training on our journey north, but overall the team is drained from the Galactic encounter yesterday. It was really only one battle, but the stress caused by the criminals appears to be more than they can handle. It's almost as though Akumu's fear is a contagious disease that soaks into the rest of the team like water into a sponge.

I watch Hearthome City as it passes by. I'm heading for the Pokemon Center, but right now it just feels like a tiny corner of the world into which I've been squeezed with my Pokemon.

Later in the night Akumu strikes up his argument again with me. He doesn't have to nudge my shoulder to wake me up, though – my eyes are already open long after dark.

"None of you asked for Team Galactic to chase you like a pack of Houndour," Akumu mumbles from his spot on the floor. "I'm the one who decided to come along in the first place… it's really about time that I went home and solved these problems on my own."

"But I don't want you to go back home," I retort, not worrying about keeping my voice below normal conversation volume. Akumu is most likely focusing on putting the others to sleep right now.

"What about your Pokemon?" Akumu asks, the light slowly fading from his cold, crystalline eyes. "They might have second thoughts."

That's strange. I could have sworn I said 'we,' not 'I.' "If they wanted you gone, they would have complained a long time ago," I told him matter-of-factly. "Stop worrying about this whole Team Galactic thing."

"I _can't_ stop worrying. I'm putting us all in danger just by existing." Akumu turns his face under his crossed arms – now I have no visual sign that he's in the room. "I would… get very frustrated if I ended up hurting you and your Pokemon just by walking around with you."

I'm getting a little tired, starting to lose my will to argue. But there has to be something I can say to convince Akumu that he's wrong. What is it?

"I'll just get help from the other Darkrai by myself. Cresselia is the least of my worries now." Akumu's voice is muted in the pressuring silence, and by the fact that he's speaking to his knees.

Something about the thought of Akumu abandoning me and my Pokemon bothers me. A lot. Especially after these several years I've had him. Akumu vanishing from my life would probably feel like a chunk falling out of my brain.

"Please don't leave," I tell him. "I'd miss you."

Silence.

"I don't want to leave, either," he finally sighs. "But I feel like it's my only choice."

"It's not. Stay with us, and we'll fight. We'll head straight to Veilstone and kick every last grunt out of those headquarters, if that's what it takes."

"Do you want to sacrifice yourselves like that?"

"It wouldn't be a sacrifice," I assure him. "No way we're going to lose against any old crooks who are putting our friend in trouble."

"How do you know that? Team Galactic is strong—"

"Because losing would be unacceptable," I interrupt. "End of story. We'll head straight for Veilstone City tomorrow and go wipe them out. Infiltrate their headquarters. Understand?"

No response. Since he's not arguing anymore, I take that as a yes.

"Wait," he starts suddenly. "We're going inside… where no regular people are?"

"That's right, assuming there are no 'regular people' in the building."

He lifts his head in a split second. "Good… then I can fight too. No use in hiding if they're all already aware of me…"

Unexpectedly his ice-blue eyes turn to me, hard and frozen with confidence. "I'll help you, and we'll go wipe them out." I guess that a smile is curving across his face right now.

"Sure, that works." To be honest, I'm too worn out to talk anymore, so I just try to sleep for now.

Evidently Akumu is excited to go teach Team Galactic a lesson the next morning, because he wakes up at the same time I do. The Pokemon and I start outside so that I can explain the plan we formed last night. We begin heading south so that I can share the expectations while we're getting closer to Veilstone.

We barely make it south of the Pokemon Center, though, before Akumu stops walking suddenly. Nowadays there is only one reason he would do that. I stare ahead at the main road leading south; sure enough, two Galactic grunts are sprinting up the street as though trying to win a medal for time in the one-hundred-meter, accompanied by a considerably slower and more relaxed Commander Saturn.

My brain works as quickly as the Galactic grunts' feet. "Searcher, guard Akumu. Uma and Gabrias, step forward. This might turn out to be an early-morning training session."

"I don't –" Akumu's protest cuts off as he realize he _does_ need protecting right now. But that won't be true for long.

The Galactic grunts slide to a halt in front of my Pokemon, instantly sending out their Zubats. Though Searcher isn't much bigger than the Zubats, he is definitely stronger physically, and has no trouble thrusting them away with his sharp stingers. Akumu doesn't even look worried in the slightest.

"We meet again," Saturn growls, putting his hands on his hips. "This is the last time I'm asking – hand over the Darkrai and nobody gets hurt."

"Not on your life," I snap. Uma and Gabrias stiffen in front of me, the latter brandishing his sharpened fins as though he wants to attack Saturn himself.

"Suit yourself. Go, Kadabra."

The familiar fox-like Pokemon with the huge tail materializes, and its narrow black eyes move to Gabrias almost as though it recognizes him from before.

"Use Confusion," Saturn tells Kadabra. The fox Pokemon responds by putting its spoon somewhere near its head. By the sound of the attack's name, it's probably an invisible one.

In a couple of seconds, Gabrias cringes and motions towards his head as though something is tearing at it, although with a shake he forgets the attack and braces himself against the ground, awaiting a command.

"Gabrias, use Dual Chop."

A sharp-toothed smile creeps across his lips – evidently he's taken a liking to this new attack. Uttering a dragon-like growl, he races forward and raises his arms, only to slam them back down right on top of Kadabra. The fox Pokemon flinches against the ground, its shoulders badly wounded by the harsh attack.

Gabrias crosses his fins in front of his torso as if to say "Don't underestimate me."

"Kadabra, Recover," Saturn commands urgently.

The fox Pokemon staggers back to its feet and then focuses its mind on something. Slowly the scratches on its torso begin to heal, but they don't disappear entirely by the time the move ends.

"Go again," I tell Gabrias.

The Gabite enthusiastically repeats his attack, smashing Kadabra with his sharpened fins once again. The fox Pokemon crumples to the ground; its Psychic attacks may be strong, but its Defense could use some work.

Gabrias crosses his arms confidently as Saturn withdraws his Pokemon.

"Go, Toxicroak." Saturn sends out a human-shaped frog Pokemon that looks quite venomous. It has sharp spines on the backs of its hands, matching the fins on Gabrias's wrists.

"Use Revenge."

The Toxicroak leaps forward as fast as a lightning bolt and slashes at Gabrias with its knuckle-claws. Gabrias tries to block the attack with his broad fins, but his opponent is fast and lands blows in several places, sending Gabrias to the ground like Kadabra before him.

Aleta steps forward and pulls the dragon out of the fray again. By this time, Searcher has long done in with the Zubats, and Akumu is hanging back, looking somewhat bored.

"Searcher," I call. "You haven't gotten a good fight in a while. Come take care of this Toxicroak."

"Whee!" Searcher is clearly delighted to be able to attack something other than a wimpy Zubat. He jumps high into the air and buzzes back down gently, glaring at the Toxicroak with his cobalt-blue eyes. He brandishes his stingers, pointing one threateningly towards his opponent. "You're going down."

"Revenge again," Saturn mutters. His Pokemon repeats the attack it had used on Gabrias, although it has much less of an effect on Searcher. The Beedrill acts as though he barely felt anything, and simply bounces back and forth on his slender legs.

"Use Rage," I tell Searcher.

"All right!" The wasp Pokemon lunges forward with his stingers bared, slashing into Toxicroak with surprising force. The frog-like Pokemon cringes away and glares through narrowed yellow eyes; if the first attack was that strong, I wonder what Searcher could potentially do after a hit or so.

"Faint Attack." Saturn's voice is getting shorter and harsher with every move his Toxicroak makes.

Saturn's Pokemon attacks Searcher with a quick punch straight to the face. Searcher reels back but recovers almost instantly. He definitely has an extensive ability to forget about whatever pain is inflicted upon him. This could keep him fighting long enough to hurt himself, though.

He doesn't even need me to command him again. The Beedrill launches himself forwards again and smashes down on Toxicroak.

This exchange goes back and forth for another round until Searcher finally bends over, submitting to the repeated slashes from the Toxicroak. Toxicroak itself looks barely conscious, though. The two Pokemon are at a decent stalemate.

I send Uma forward, and he finishes off the frog-like Pokemon with a Twister attack. Aleta is just now done healing Gabrias back to full fighting spirit, although now she has another job ahead of her. Searcher might be hard to revive once he finally faints…

Saturn grimaces at his fallen Pokemon, but he doesn't shout or say anything particularly angry. "No matter," he murmurs. "I don't need to best you to follow through with the plan."

"Plan?" I echo, advancing another step or so. The other two grunts are long gone. "You can forget about any of your wicked plans."

"Can you back that up?" Saturn challenges, pulling out an object from one of his spacesuit pockets. "I still have _this_, after all."

Suddenly there's a loud _boom_ from my right side as Zekpoid slams down an oversized foot on the pavement. "The Red Chain."

"You know about this already?" Saturn spins the foot-long chain around in his hand a little. "You're a smart Pokemon. I suppose you can tell me what it does, then."

I glance sideways at Zekpoid. How long has he known about the Red Chain? Or could he possibly have just remembered it now?

"I'll spare the details." Zekpoid pulls out a clawed hand from under the cloak and flexes the sturdy fingers. Somehow the tips of his nails start jumping with sky-blue electricity. "Just drop it and get out of here."

"You won't tell me?" Saturn frowns mockingly. "That's too bad, because I don't know either. It will help us, Team Galactic, accomplish our goal of recreating the universe, though."

"Recreating the universe?" Zekpoid and Akumu repeat simultaneously. Akumu steps forward a little bit closer to Zekpoid. "You don't like it how it is?"

"I don't know any fine print," Saturn replies coolly, "but this Red Chain does accomplish that. You'll have to come along to Spear Pillar if you'd like to see how." He turns his rock-hard eyes to Akumu. "Unless you'd like to help me out right now, Darkrai."

"Only if you'd like to be stuck in a nightmare beforehand." Akumu's frigid gaze is equally as steady as Saturn's. He lifts his hand slowly. "If not, run off and go to your Spear Pillar."

"If you insist." The Galactic commander replaces the Red Chain in his pocket. "When you arrive at Spear Pillar, I expect for you to enjoy the show."

He turns on his heel and retreats south, out of sight.

As it turns out, Zekpoid did recognize the Red Chain from somewhere. He doesn't recall where it was or what it does (he was bluffing when he told Saturn he would 'spare the details'), but it involves legendary Pokemon somehow. The next matter is how in the world Team Galactic would be able to recreate the universe. To me, it seems very impossible and far-fetched. Akumu mentions two other legendary Pokemon that exist, though: Dialga, the Lord of Time, and Palkia, the Lord of Space. Together, they would probably have the potential to destroy the world and then create a new one. He hasn't been in contact with them recently, though.

None of this is helping jog Zekpoid's memory. He doesn't recall anything about Dialga and Palkia, even going as far to say that he had never heard their names before. He does know that the Red Chain does something dangerous, though. It seems to play an important role in his amnesia, and its presence jumps out at him like a Golbat out of a cave, but he can't remember what about it is so important.

We decide that Saturn's inviting us to Spear Pillar is definitely a trap. It's a trap that's necessary to set off, though; if Team Galactic really can somehow involve Dialga and Palkia in this entire situation, a lot more than just those two Pokemon could be at stake. As I've learned from walking around with a Darkrai for the last several years, legendary Pokemon have practically limitless power that can be very destructive if used carelessly. All I have to do for now is trust my Pokemon, and dive into everything headfirst without looking back.

It's still early in the morning; there's no reason we should wait to foil Team Galactic's plans until later. We make a beeline for Mount Coronet to the west, with Zekpoid in more of a hurry than usual. Before he was lagging behind a little bit, but this time he's practically at the front of the group, his cloak brushing away from his feet. (That's probably good, since I've always been worried that he would trip over it.)

As always, Mount Coronet is dark on the inside. I halt at the entrance and turn back to my Pokemon. "Do we know that this lets out somewhere?"

"If it didn't, Saturn wouldn't have gone this way," Zekpoid reasons. "Let's go."

"Wait." I look to Akumu. "I need somebody who can see in the dark. You go ahead."

We advance into the pitch-black passage.

"What are we going to do once we get to Spear Pillar?" Aleta asks. "Just try to knock out as many Galactic Pokemon as we can?"

"Probably," Uma responds. He sounds like he's at the back of the group again.

"We could try to make a bit of an entrance," Searcher suggests. I hear quiet whooshes as he stabs at the air with his fists. "Show something off to weaken them a little bit beforehand."

"Any ideas?" I ask the Beedrill. "We have a while to think up a performance if you'd like one."

"Spear Pillar is pretty far out of the way," Aleta intercedes. "Who knows how long it could take to get there?"

"Out of the way," Akumu echoes. "There's an idea right there. If nobody else is around I don't have to worry about hiding…" His cold blue gaze turns to me in the murk, a smile shining somewhere in the ice. "Even if they are after me, I imagine they'd get scared when you show up with a Darkrai, wouldn't they?"

"If we can manipulate it correctly." I glance backwards at where I assume Zekpoid is. "Have you remembered anything yet?"

"Dialga, Palkia…" His muttering fades as he answers my question. "No, but I can help with the performance strategy if you want me to."

Akumu leads us through a passage I didn't know existed. I'm oblivious to just about every passage, though – after all, I can't see anything in here. The terrain inside Mount Coronet is definitely rougher than I'm used to. So many hills and turns…

The team and I discuss methods of entertaining and annoying Team Galactic. It turns out to be a fun way to pass the time it takes to hike through all of these passages. I have no clue how Akumu can tell where to go, but I guess it wouldn't matter if he got lost; none of us would be able to tell, since we can't see where we're going anyway. For all we know we could be walking in circles.

Eventually my eyes begin to make out the outlines of walls, rocks, ledges… more features start to appear in my field of vision. I have no idea where the light is coming from, but I'm relieved to be able to see a little bit again. Perhaps this part of the cave is just lighter for whatever reason. Hopefully this means we're getting close to Spear Pillar.

"Do you want to go ahead?" Akumu inquires, already dropping back.

"Sure." I start looking for exits, obstacles – anything that could help me remember where we are. The path appears straight and direct; there's no sign of a fork anywhere. My legs are tired from the slope so far, but I still try to pick up the pace a little. Team Galactic could have started setting up here a long time ago, for all we know. This part of the passage is definitely an up-hill, and it winds continuously to the right like a spiral staircase. The light inside gradually brightens until I can see a white shape inside a far wall.

"The exit," I breathe, although I can't decide whether to slow down or speed up more. No matter… I practically toss myself at the hole in the wall as though it's a pane of glass, and I'm thrust into a world of ice and snow.

Wait, ice and snow? How far up did we run, anyway? I didn't think that Spear Pillar was this far away… the clouds obscuring the sky make it impossible to tell what time of day it is, or how long we spent inside the mountain. I hug my jacket against the cold as my Pokemon follow me outside.

Uma, Aleta, Searcher, Akumu, Zekpoid, Gabrias… all right, everybody is accounted for. Gabrias doesn't appear particularly happy with the temperature, though. He's already begun to shiver. I'm not surprised – he is a reptile, after all, and so he probably is cold-blooded.

Until now I had forgotten that winter was almost upon us. At this altitude and this time of year snow would be completely normal. "Let's hurry," I mutter, braving the occasional gusts of frozen precipitation.

We wind around the outside of the mountain – quickly so our feet don't freeze off – and end up inside another tunnel. Like the most recent passage, this one is relatively light, and there are no forks or mazes here, either. It's almost as though somebody carved this specifically for the purpose of getting to Spear Pillar… but Team Galactic couldn't have done this overnight. Surely Spear Pillar existed before Team Galactic ever came along…?

More curving halls of stone and darkness appear before me, end after end. They're all sloping upwards, so I guess that we're only going higher still… what could Team Galactic want with such a high altitude? Do the clouds ruin their plan or something?

This tunnel is shorter than the rest but it seems endless. I pause to check attendance. All six of my companions are here. We have to be getting close to Spear Pillar soon…

"Are we all ready to face Team Galactic?" I ask. I feel more in control somehow when I'm looking down at my Pokemon, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

"Ready anytime." Akumu's cold blue eyes are already as hard as ice.

Zekpoid's claws are starting to crackle with electricity again. Earlier in Mount Coronet he told us that he does remember a little bit of how to use moves, although he has no idea of what move this might be. It's strange that the electricity is blue instead of the normal yellow or white, though. "I'll be there, too."

My four Pokemon also express their agreement. Reassured, I turn and continue up the passage. Spear Pillar could show up anytime.

Another patch of grayish-white on the cave wall signals what I hope is the final exit. At the same time, though, the thought of challenging Team Galactic by myself is making me nervous. Well… technically I'm not by myself, since I have my Pokemon with me.

A firm but gentle hand rests on my shoulder. I can already guess who it is before I glance to my right. Of course, Akumu is standing there – floating there, actually. He's dropped his human disguise in advance, and I can tell why. Not only is he probably anxious for the battles to come, but he would get exhausted running up all of those hills on spindly human legs. The three-clawed hand of a Darkrai may seem horrific to others, but to me it has the same grip as a human hand. Akumu may as well be a Dark-type, but there's no reason that his existence has to be dark as well.

From behind his messy white bangs, a single ice-blue eye taking up just about his whole face glances at me reassuringly. Perhaps his eyes are as blue as eyes, but they're surely not that cold.

"You ready, Akumu?" I whisper, lending him a smile.

He has no mouth, but in his eye I can see him smile back, and he nods his graceful head, hidden behind mountainous ruby points stationed about his collarbone.

"All right, let's go."


	12. Chapter 11

I step out onto Spear Pillar alone. Completely alone.

At least, that's what I want Team Galactic to think.

The mountaintop is almost like a giant basketball court, although last time I checked basketball courts didn't involve a lot of broken columns dotting the floor. Saturn and at least two other Team Galactic commanders are here, with a couple of grunts standing guard by the entrance to the court. I don't take a second to glance at them; instead I eye the higher-ups warily.

"Looks like you made it," Saturn sneers. "Did you leave your precious Pokemon behind so we didn't have to knock them out of the way?"

I let myself smile a bit. Give Team Galactic a taste of their own creepy-grin medicine. "Nope." I advance another several steps. Saturn still doesn't look convinced. "But it would be nice if you could drop those plans of yours. Right about now."

"Or you'll stop us," one of the other commanders adds on, attempting to finish a sentence I had already ended. This one is female with a bright red hairdo. "May I ask, you and what army?"

"I don't need an army."

The commander shrugs. "Sure. You're welcome to watch. Just don't try anything funny."

Sure, like I would ever want to listen to a bunch of criminals like Team Galactic. "If you say so."

"Glad you could make it." One of the other Galactic guys, who appears to be a commander, turns to face me from his spot farther down the "court." "You must be the girl with the Darkrai Saturn told me about. Did you bring him with you? I would like to meet him…"

"You mean _this_ Darkrai?"

Evidently they haven't studied up enough on their legends, because all of the Team Galactic members get a hint of panic in their movements when a black mist suddenly encompasses the entire mountaintop, obscuring a majority of what they could see. Even I had trouble making things out through the murk, but I wasn't affected by the element of surprise.

"What are you trying to pull?" the Galactic commander snarls from somewhere inside the haze.

"Nothing." I shrug, even though he can't see me. Hopefully my voice conveys enough of my body language for me. "You asked for the Darkrai… here he is."

"Where? He's invisible through all of this fog…"

"I can tell you, mister Galactic guy," I offer, unable to resist smiling. This performance sure is going well. "Just one thing I have to warn you about first."

He hesitates considerably as though he wants to find me and rip my head off. "Go ahead."

"Three words: don't turn around."

I guessed that he probably did turn around right then. While he was distracted searching for Akumu in the mist, the Darkrai himself was safely camouflaged. After all, he was traveling through shadows just as he did when I first found him. All he had to do was slide over to the Galactic commander and position himself just right…

If everything goes according to plan, Akumu glares the Galactic guy straight in the face with his visible eye and holds up a powerfully clawed hand. He won't expend needless energy by trying to put his enemy to sleep, but he at least gives the Galactic guy a decent head rush before slowly approaching Saturn and the other two commanders. Now that Akumu is drawing closer I can see his outline through the gradually fading fog. The major sign that he's safe and sound, though, is his icy eye, glowing through the murk as warm as sunlight through trees.

One of the commanders, a pink-haired lady I didn't notice before, turns to the other two. "Saturn, the Red Chain!" she barks.

The blue-haired commander begins to reach into his pocket, when another voice interrupts him from behind me. "I wouldn't try that if I were you."

Another part of the plan going smoothly. I hear Zekpoid's heavy footfalls as he ducks out of the passage – the hole leading to Spear Pillar isn't as tall as I would like. I take a moment to examine the Galactic bosses' startled expressions before turning back to Zekpoid. The mist fades almost entirely as he approaches on his long, supple legs. With his whole body in view, he looks like what would result if a doctor had stripped all of the skin off a six-foot man and painted the musculature underneath chrome black. Blue illumination glints off his sooty, shiny skin from some unknown source. Perhaps it's from the electricity that appears to be following him around now.

"Even that Red Chain isn't a perfect object," Zekpoid warns, his voice as strong as thunder but not quite so dangerous. Even so, his direct tone conveys how he really means to speak to Team Galactic. His pale pink eyes with their slit pupils drift among the Galactic commanders almost as though searching for something to eat. He turns one of his clawed hands with the padded palm up, flexing the talons like knives. "Even if it does let you control space and time, it has its limits. Don't think the world is just going to bend to your will."

The blue-haired commander grimaces, his gaze drifting up and down along Zekpoid's body, a stark gray against the faded tans of the mountaintop. "Silence," he snaps. "The Chain has already failed once before. Don't think I'm stupid enough not to learn from my mistakes."

_Failed once before?_ As in, failed to create a new universe? Failed to summon the legendary Pokémon that Team Galactic needs to achieve its goals? I wasn't even aware that Team Galactic had the Red Chain in their possession before now.

Zekpoid's rose-colored eyes gleam with thought for a second – evidently his mind is wondering the same thing as mine. "If it has already failed to fulfill its purpose, I imagine you wouldn't want to use it again," Zekpoid growls. He flexes his stubby fingers again, and the sharpened claws crackle momentarily with sky-blue sparks. "Maybe you humans really are as foolish as I thought."

If Zekpoid is acting, he's doing a good job. The blue-haired commander frowns again. "You'll see who's the foolish one when this world is done for. If you'd be so kind, sit back and behold what this Red Chain really can do." The Galactic commander pulls the foot-long chain out of one of his coat pockets – Saturn never had it in the first place. Maybe the other lady commander was bluffing when she told him to take it out.

My other Pokémon begin to appear out of the cave as the blue-haired commander turns towards the other end of the mountaintop. Zekpoid's broad chest rises as he takes a deep breath, and then it falls again when he lets it out. He almost looks exasperated for a moment, although his expression returns to normal soon after. Clearly he's had enough of the performance we've been putting on for Team Galactic.

Saturn stares at Akumu as though he's wondering why the Darkrai is still floating there. In an instant Akumu is gone, presumably into their shadows. Even I can't tell where he's going to show up next.

"Now, Dialga and Palkia," the blue-haired commander calls to nowhere, holding out the chain, "Show yourselves."

For a moment, nothing happens and the Galactic guy looks like an idiot. After several seconds the Red Chain proves that there really is some sort of power imbued in it; a crimson glow falls upon the mountaintop, and my eyes start to hurt. I glance around to make sure my Pokémon are all right, and they are. The scarlet light reflects off Zekpoid's skin, almost giving him a glow of his own. Briefly I wonder how Team Galactic could have gotten hold of such a powerful object, but then I remember that the sneaky crooks have probably found out how to do a lot of things.

A dark grayish deformation starts to appear in the air on the other side of the mountain. The air is filled with a faint whirring noise, and the atmosphere almost feels solid. All of this light and sound is very distracting.

The space itself in front of the Galactic commander almost looks as though it's going to fall apart. Dark gray echoes fall from nowhere in the air, as though something is digging a whole through space and is about to surface. Then white starts falling apart, as well. Pale pink, deep blue.

The next thing I see is Akumu's ice-blue eye, glowing like a wildfire. His hair like smoke, disappearing into the sky. His three-clawed hand tight around the Red Chain, the chain that the Galactic commander holds in front of him at arm's distance. Akumu's slender arm and round shoulder flexing as he pulls, slashing with sharpened fingers made of nothing but shadow.

And then black; more black. I didn't tell Akumu to use Haze again, but apparently he does anyway.

The world is shaking, turning, spinning all around. How many seconds are passing? Years? I can't see.

Then everything stops. Spear Pillar returns to its level, stable self. Team Galactic is still here, although they're standing on shaky legs. All of the red and black and white light is gone. Are Dialga and Palkia here? I don't see any Pokémon. Except one.

A giant white thing that looks like a cross between a dinosaur and a bird, except it has fur… and an oversized tail that looks like a rocket. It towers over the Galactic commanders, its ocean-blue eyes glaring down at them. Smoke curls from the nostrils on its narrow snout.

"_What?_" the Galactic commander roars. "This isn't Dialga and Palkia! Something went wrong…" He turns to where Akumu was floating just a moment ago, but the Darkrai is gone. He's back at my side, watching with almost disinterested icy eyes.

"_You,_" the commander snarls. He starts to shout something else, but his voice as swallowed as the columns suddenly turn to flames erupting from the ground, and the red-orange light returns once more. A noise that's half-thunder and half-screech emanates from the giant white Pokémon – fire is spouting from its mouth, too. Black smoke rises and falls as it lifts itself into the air on broad white wings, dancing a wild dance above the ground.

At this point I forget everything about Team Galactic. For all I know they could have run away, away from their own failed experiment. Zekpoid was right – the Red Chain wasn't perfect – it failed a second time. I have no idea whether this was Akumu's fault when he broke it, or if he just shattered the Chain to prevent further chaos. But now a strange Pokémon, presumably from another dimension, is stuck here in our world, and its method of transport between universes no longer exists.

"Reshiram." Zekpoid's voice is barely audible above the flapping of the white Pokémon's wings and the whooshing of its fire.

"Reshiram?" I echo, glancing backwards at him. He's standing up straight – he almost looks taller than he did a minute ago – and his pink eyes are clear with understanding.

"Reshiram, the Red Chain." Zekpoid shifts his oversized feet a little bit, and he rolls his curved shoulders around until they're back to their straight pose. "I remember. The Red Chain was to be used to summon the legendary dragon Pokémon Dialga and Palkia by bringing them from another dimension. It was built out of whatever was the origin of the earth and the power of the lake guardians, but it was incomplete…" He flexes a muscular arm, folding his curved talons in and out. He glances down at his clawed hand for a moment, and then his gaze returns to the flying white Pokémon. "It was activated once before, but it was connected to the wrong place in space and time… it was too hastily built. Instead of bringing Dialga and Palkia from somewhere else, it merged two other existences."

Suddenly his pink eyes turned to me as if he was giving me a lecture. "The result was what you see here." He motioned with his hands towards himself, his reflective, carved body dyed in black. "It was me… except it wasn't me. I'm the result of a legendary Pokémon gone wrong."

He switches his gaze back to the white Pokémon. It meets his eyes with its own deep blue ones, as though challenging him.

"My name is Zekrom," he mutters. "I remember who I am. I am Reshiram's other half, his enemy and his friend. But right now, his enemy." He lifts his arms a little more as though to prepare an attack. "Because of the incorrect link the Red Chain performed, Reshiram was brought here, and he's gone crazy. As Reshiram's second half, my job is to bring him back to his senses."

"You got your memory back," I breathe, unable to come up with anything else to say.

Akumu nods next to me. I can hear in his voice that he's smiling. "I thought it was you, Zekrom. Welcome back."

Zekpoid – or maybe he's Zekrom now – waves with a clawed hand back at Akumu. "Thank you, Darkrai. I'll handle this."

"Do you want my help?" I ask, taking another step towards Zekrom. Can he really do all of this by himself? _Of course he can,_ I shoot back at myself. _He's a legendary Pokémon. He has a lot of strength…_

To my surprise, Zekrom nods slowly. "Sure! Reshiram is a strong Pokemon, after all. I don't know how much of a chance I would have if I fought him myself. Just be careful. We'll coordinate our attacks."

He turns his eyes to my team. "You all can help. Gabrias has a type advantage, Uma and Aleta are resistant to its attacks, and Searcher has the biggest fighting spirit I've seen since I woke up on that mountain."

My Pokemon each step forward as their names are called. The furry white dragon-like Pokemon is still hovering in the air above the mountaintop, glaring down with sky-blue eyes. It's almost as though it's waiting for us to attack it so it can breathe more fire on us.

"We can't let him leave the pillar," Zekrom tells us. "Reshiram has the potential to destroy a lot of things. So the battle will have to take place here. Do any of you know restricting moves like Block or Spider Web?"

Uma raises his hand. "I know Twister… will that help?"

Zekrom puts a clawed hand under his chin. "Yes, Twister is super effective… but it won't trap Reshiram for long." He glances to my Gabite. "Gabrias, you know Sand Tomb, right?"

The blue dragon nods slowly, giving his little dog-like squeaks as he does so.

Zekrom rubs his claws together in a motion that's almost like a human snapping his fingers. "That will work. Sand Tomb will trap Reshiram… and it's also super-effective. All right, let's go, everyone." He bows his head in appreciation and then braces his oversized feet against the ground.

Reshiram begins to lower himself back to the mountaintop. Zekrom puts his hands together as though crushing some sort of pizza, and slowly draws them apart. The sky-blue electricity from before begins crackling between the tips of his talons, forming a glowing sphere between his palms. A buzzing noise begins to emanate from the sphere of lightning as it grows. When it's slightly bigger than his head Zekrom tosses it at Reshiram, launching himself into a spin as he does so. The round lightning bolt flies at Reshiram and courses over his white fur before fading with a loud _snap._

Zekrom puts one clawed hand behind his head. "Not Fusion Bolt like I imagined it," he mutters. "It would help if I had more time to remember what I used to look like…"

Reshiram suddenly exhales a stream of bright red fire, hitting Zekrom square in the chest. The black Pokemon falls against the ground with a bang, leaving a considerable dent in the old pavement. He digs into the ground with his powerful talons and rises slowly to his feet again. "All right, enough of that idea," he murmurs, gradually straightening himself. "You guys try your moves."

"Got it." Uma lunges forward and spouts a ferocious wind from his snout at Reshiram. Reshiram is big, so the gust only wraps around his leg, but he still appears quite irritated.

Gabrias steals this chance to activate his move as well. He swings one of his sharpened fins along the mountaintop, rousing centuries-old dust. With a wave of his opposite fin, he sends a tornado of sand towards Reshiram. The debris is sucked into Uma's Twister and batters the white Pokemon ferociously, extorting from it a high-pitched noise that's halfway between a screech and a roar.

"It uses Fire moves," Aleta observes aloud. "I'll use Water Sport, then. That way they won't be nearly as powerful." She exhales a thin cloud of water vapor, which spreads around the mountaintop. I wonder how she can produce so much moisture, and then I remember she's probably using some that's in the air as well. The atmosphere suddenly feels a little bit heavier.

"My turn!" Searcher's wings buzz furiously as he rushes forward with his usual Twineedle. He looks small and fragile next to Reshiram, but his attack proves powerful as Reshiram retreats a couple of steps with a screech.

"Good, I think we're weakening it." Zekrom puts his hands together again. "Reshiram _is_ a legendary Pokemon, though, so it could take a while to make it calm down again. Anyway, I'm going to try a different attack."

He inhales deeply; I can practically see his lungs swelling beneath his chest. Within moments he exhales again, his breath a foggy cyan beam heading straight for Reshiram. Reshiram attempts to use a broad white wing to block the attack. This half-works; it earns what looks like a burn mark on its fur but is otherwise unaffected.

Reshiram quickly counters the attack with another breath of fire. At first the flames are fearsome, but as they travel through the soaked air they diminish to nothing more than a few candle flames. Zekrom sweeps the wimpy fire attack aside with one broad hand, and his shiny black skin isn't even tarnished. "You're going to have to do better than that," he growls at Reshiram.

His pink eyes flick back to my Pokemon. "What do you think? Do you want to attack again?"

"I sure do!" Searcher flies forward once more, bashing Reshiram with his stingers. He aims straight for his opponent's fluffy chest. The white Pokemon screeches and tries to send another stream of fire at him, but all that escapes its mouth is a pitiful flame. Searcher doesn't even look like he got burned from that attack.

"Thanks for the Water Sport, Aleta," the Beedrill calls, returning to his previous position next to Gabrias.

"No problem," the Alomomola replies, her fins swishing with contentment. She focuses once more on the battle, though, and her attitude gets serious again.

I glance around Spear Pillar while Gabrias speaks to Zekrom in his dog-like language. Team Galactic is completely gone; knowing their egos, they probably just fled from their own foolish mistake. They're off either to start planning something evil again or to reflect on what they did wrong and disband. The latter would be nice, but it's also a lot less likely.

I turn to Akumu. "Do you want to fight, too?" I ask slowly.

He shrugs his round shoulders, the smoke billowing faster for just an instant. "I'm not sure fighting is really my thing… In addition, Reshiram and Zekrom are two different halves of the same existence. I have no place in this battle."

"But you want to fight to save your home, don't you?"

He turns his visible ice-blue eye towards me slightly. "Yes, I do. But fighting humans is a lot different from fighting Pokemon."

"I guess you're right. But it's still fighting either way."

"That's true." His gaze goes back to Reshiram for a moment, and he stays silent for a while.

"That sounds like a good idea," Zekrom finishes. He was probably having a conversation with Gabrias while I spoke with Akumu. "All right, let's try it."

Zekrom braces his oversized feet against the ground. Gabrias follows suit, digging his claws into the ancient earth. The two rush forward almost simultaneously, with Zekrom letting loose another DragonBreath. A blue energy starts to glow around Gabrias's claws, and he slashes at Reshiram at the same moment as the DragonBreath smacks the white Pokemon in the face. Reshiram falls out of the air, with a loud crash sounding as it lands against the old, dusty pavement.

"This battle isn't over yet," Zekrom warns. "Reshiram is powerful, maybe moreso than me. This could be a long fight."

"Don't give up," Akumu encourages suddenly. "The world around us could be at stake if Reshiram is left to rampage."

The two sides exchanged a few more attacks. I glanced to Akumu. "Once they defeat Reshiram, how are they going to get him back to his own dimension?"

"This is his dimension," Akumu explains. "Just about all he could do is fly back to Unova, another region across the ocean. I doubt even Team Galactic would be able to build a device that would get him teleported back to his home." He shakes his head slowly, his wide icy eye closing as he does so. "Humans just do with this world what they please and assume nothing bad will come of it."

"I know, some of us are pretty dumb." Something about this thought gets a smile onto my face. I'm not one of those people who would go around doing whatever for the sake of enjoyment, but I can see how Akumu would deduce that humans tend to do that.

By the end of the next round of battle Zekrom and Reshiram both look worn out. My Pokemon are also breathing hard, a couple of them sustaining small marks where they may have gotten attacked by the minimal fire Reshiram could send in their direction.

"I'll try this again," Zekpoid mutters. He forms another blue lightning sphere between his hands and tosses it at Reshiram, who is shocked for a moment but recovers surprisingly quickly. The white Pokemon doesn't respond to the attack, though. Maybe both sides are tired of fighting.

"Reshiram, please go back home," Zekrom calls. "Humans brought you hear by accident. I don't want to fight anymore."

The white Pokemon responds with a loud, high-pitched roar. It spews forth a wide stream of fire that isn't even weakened by the moist air, and hits Zekrom straight in the face. The black Pokemon rises back to his large feet gradually and brushes his dark-skinned face off with the back of a clawed hand. "You're getting tired too, aren't you?" he asks Reshiram.

Reshiram shrieks again, although this time it doesn't look like it will attack again right away.

"It would help if I could speak Pokemon," Zekrom murmurs to himself. "But I don't have time now to try to remember anything. I guess all we have to do is keep fighting."

Reshiram rises into the air again, exhaling a few small flames. The fire begins to dance around his body as he pumps his wings to stay airborne. He breathes deeper, and within a few moments flames surround his white body like a Poke Ball. He gains a few feet of altitude before suddenly diving down as a fiery rocket headed straight for Zekrom.

Zekrom's pink eyes narrow on the attack. He barely has time to hold his hands forward before Reshiram's giant body crashes into him. At first I think he's going to be smashed into the ground, but Zekrom is still standing at the collision. It almost looks as though he's holding Reshiram back with his bare hands. Surely he would get severely burned from trying something like that? Electricity jumps between his claws; he's involving a little bit of attack energy in this, too.

"Hold on!" Aleta calls to Zekrom. She tries to approach from behind and set up a Wide Guard, but the protective wall is instantly shattered by the force of Reshiram's flame.

Zekrom looks like he might thank her, but he's too focused on keeping Reshiram away from him with his cyan electricity. Even his oversized feet are losing ground against the furry white Pokemon's Fusion Flare.

He bends his arms just a little bit to form the orb of electricity and shoves it in Reshiram's face. At the same time, Reshiram advances just far enough to forcefully smash into Zekrom's chest, sending the black Pokemon backwards against a pillar.

The electricity shocks Reshiram from the face and extorts from him a loud screech as he stumbles backwards, crouching against the ground as though dizzy.

Zekrom leaves a dent in the already-crumbling pillar and lands face first on the ground. With a low cough that sounds like it would come from a considerably-sized dragon Pokemon he pushes himself back to his feet, wiping something away from the corner of his mouth. Zekrom is clearly tired now; his black, accented shoulders move visibly with every breath, and he occasionally shifts his weight between his feet as though he isn't sure which way he wants to stand. About half of a minute passes before he manages to start walking again. He approaches Reshiram slowly and calmly and stands over the big white Pokemon. Reshiram gazes up at him with exhausted sky-blue eyes, although a bit defiantly. It's definitely not going to die anytime soon.

"We've gotten ourselves into a bit of a dilemma, haven't we?" Zekrom asks softly, sitting down in front of Reshiram. The white Pokemon is so big anyway that his eyes are level with those of the black Pokemon even while he's laying down.

"We're too tired to fly home now." Zekrom rests his chin on one clawed hand and gazes at Reshiram as if to say 'what are we going to do with you?'

"Where is your home, anyway?" I inquire. I remember Akumu saying something about a place called Unova.

"Far across the ocean," Zekrom replies, his pink eyes flicking to me for a few seconds. "It takes a while to fly there. I'm not sure how we're going to get there now. After this long battle, I mean…"

Aleta begins to approach Reshiram slowly. Uma, Searcher and Gabrias follow close behind. The Alomomola lingers behind Zekrom as she gazes down at Reshiram steadily through her amber eyes. "Should I heal the two of you?"

"As soon as we know we're not going to start fighting each other again the minute we can stand," Zekrom tells her. He looks back to Reshiram. "It's just me, Zekrom. You haven't forgotten me, have you?"

Reshiram's sky-blue eyes fall to the ground, but it doesn't respond audibly. Maybe Zekrom can hear something, but I can't.

"I just got messed up by those Team Galactic jerks," Zekrom explains gently to Reshiram. "That flawed Red Chain they used that brought you here? They used it once before to try their weird summoning antics, and all it did was force me over to Sinnoh and combine my body with that of a human." He folds his legs up and rests his arms and chin on them. "It's convenient sometimes to be this small, though. And my wings and tail don't get in the way."

Reshiram blinks slowly. Maybe it is having a conversation with Zekrom, but in some silent Pokemon language.

"Wait, wings and tail?" Zekrom repeats, his pink eyes falling to his hands. "I think I'm starting to remember something…" He glances back at Reshiram. "I guess once I recall my previous appearance I could help you fly back home." His rosy gaze then turns to Aleta. "You could try healing him a little bit so it's not so painful for him. And give me a bit of a dose while you're at it." His smile is gentle and lighthearted, but still tired.

"All right. Try to hold still." Aleta bends her fins to one side and conjures a soft white orb between the tips. She's used this move so many times that she could probably do it in her sleep. The glow transfers a little bit to Reshiram and a little bit to Zekrom, and both of the Pokemon close their eyes. In about a minute the light fades. Reshiram slowly rises onto its clawed feet, although it still looks somewhat unstable. It probably just is very resilient, making it harder for Aleta to heal it noticeably.

"Feeling better, Reshiram?" Zekrom asks, also standing up. He tilts his head a little and smiles amiably.

The white Pokemon nods slowly, and glances at Aleta silently as though to thank her. The Alomomola timidly retreats to where the rest of my team is standing.

"All right, then. We'll go back home as soon as I can remember everything…" Zekrom turns and starts to walk towards the cave exit.

Reshiram makes a cooing noise that sounds half-pigeon and half-eagle. This catches Zekrom's attention, and he turns around again. Reshiram offers a clawed wing as a hand as though it wants to carry Zekrom.

"It's all right," Zekrom tells Reshiram. "You're not strong enough to carry me all that way right now. I'll just sit here and keep thinking, I guess."

"Wait." Akumu floats towards Zekpoid, his ice-blue gaze steady. "I have an idea. Would you mind falling asleep for a minute?"

"Falling asleep?" Zekrom echoes. After a couple of seconds a glint of understanding lights in his pale pink eyes. "You're going to show me an image through a dream?"

Akumu shrugs. "I can try. I haven't seen you a lot before, but I think I do remember pretty well what you used to look like before Team Galactic messed you up. I could jog your memory, at least."

"Thanks, Akumu." Zekrom nods. "I have an idea as well… but the main problem is I can't remember what my face looks like." He raises a clawed hand to his head. "Without my face, I'm essentially stuck here. I don't want my wings and tail to get in the way until my face can match them."

"All right, I'll do my best. Don't panic if you get dizzy." Akumu draws a little closer to Zekrom and rests a powerful clawed hand on his head. I notice his grip tighten as Zekrom's eyes close slowly – he must be trying to keep the black Pokemon from falling over or slumping down.

After about a minute Akumu removes his hand and Zekrom's eyelids slide open again. At first the pink is cloudy from the interrupted nap, but his eyes clear soon enough and he rises to his feet slowly. After a quick blink, he nods to Akumu. "Thanks… I think I remember now." He stretches his arms to the sides as though he was just asleep for an entire night. "I just realized I have no clue how to change form, though."

Uma steps forwards now. "I don't really think about it much," he begins. "But start this way… can you imagine yourself rehearsing a dance?"

Zekrom closes his eyes again for a moment. "I think so… I haven't danced before, though, so I can't really tell."

"I'm sure you're on the right track," Uma encourages. "Anyway, switching form is a lot like rehearsing a dance in your head. You sort of… imagine yourself doing it… flow into it, I guess." He shrugs. "It's hard to explain to somebody who's never done it before, especially when I'm so used to doing it automatically."

Zekrom exhales and crosses his arms. "All right… I guess I'll just take it slowly." He puts one clawed hand on his chin. "It's funny… I'm supposed to be the Lord of Yin, this big legendary Pokemon, and I can't even remember how to be myself anymore."

"Don't rush it," Akumu tells Zekrom gently. "The last thing you want to do is ruin your memory by trying to change into something that isn't you. We can start heading back down to Hearthome City now if you'd rather be left to think alone."

Zekrom smiles. "You can go ahead; you all are probably tired. As long as you promise to come to Unova and see me again sometime. I'll be in a place called Dragonspiral Tower. Can you remember that?"

I nodded, tracing a circle with a forefinger. "Dragonspiral Tower. Got it."

"Let's go, Lucidia." Akumu softly rests a hand on my shoulder. I glance to him; his ice-blue eye is warm like fire. I let my hand slip into his – it looks like a clawed Darkrai hand, but it still feels as normal as any human hand.

"All right. Good luck, Zekrom." I smile at the black Pokemon one more time. "Have a safe journey home."

"Thank you, Lucidia." Zekrom makes a motion almost like a salute with his hand. "I look forward to seeing you again."

I bowed my head a last time and turned back for the cave entrance. I barely made it a few steps before I heard Zekrom's voice again. "Oh, Lucidia? One more thing?"

I glanced backward. "What is it?"

"You know the cape I left inside?" He swung his hand back down to his hips. "Keep it for me. I might want it again later."

This pulled a quiet giggle out of my voice. "All right, see you."

We returned down to Hearthome City quite tired from our trek through the dark Mount Coronet passage. Not only that, but my Pokemon were still worn out from their fight with Reshiram. Our first stop was the Pokemon Center, where all four of them promptly plopped down on the cushions for sitting naps. After all, it was only dinner time; if they went to sleep right now, they would have to get up ridiculously early tomorrow morning.

Akumu and I step outside while the others are dozing off. The afternoon air is cool with frost – winter is just about upon us now. A few Trainers bustle about in the distance. The sky is dotted with a few dancing clouds, but there's no sign of any rain.

"What are we going to do with Team Galactic?" I ask Akumu, glancing up at his thoughtful face.

He shrugs nonchalantly. At least most of his fear seems to have gone away when he learned that Team Galactic runs away from scary situations far more than he did. "Just make sure they don't get any more intense action in. To be honest, they're not nearly as productive as I thought they were initially… I guess they're a lot more for appearances than they are strategize. You humans are amusingly vain sometimes."

I blink, hiding his contented smile from my vision for a split second. "I'm not vain, am I?"

His clear blue eyes fall down to me with a little bit of shock in them. "Of course not. If you were, I would have run away from you a long time ago. You're one of the nicer humans who actually thinks about the consequences of what they're doing before they actually do it."

I smile back at him. "Just making sure."

My eyes flick back to the sky again. For a moment I think I'm seeing things, but after a couple of blinks they're still there: a black shape and a white shape in the air, floating around above the clouds.

"Is that Zekrom and Reshiram?" I ask, making a vague pointing motion with my hand.

Akumu's ice-colored eyes focus on the two. "I believe it is," he responds. "I'm glad Zekrom got his memory back. It would have been bad if Reshiram lost his other half to Team Galactic."

The black shape is getting bigger. Soon I can make out its form a little bit better. Zekrom's appearance is generally the same as it was before, but with a few extra additions. His mid-torso looks to be about the same size as it used to be, but everything else is bigger in comparison. His legs have filled out and thickened a little bit more to support his reptilian feet. His waist is thin, but his already broad chest gained more muscle mass to it to make up for this. The black caps marking his shoulder muscles have rounded out of his arms even more. In a moment I notice that he actually has two pairs of shoulders; one connecting his arms to his body, and another supporting broad, hand-like wings. From his long neck sprouts a head resembling that of a lizard, into which are set the same pale pink eyes from before. At first glance it looks like his hands have flattened out, too, but really he just looks like he's wearing baseball mitts. The most noticeable feature he's gained is a giant rocket-like tail that looks like it could snap off from his rear at any moment. Inside, a motor appears to be turning, generating cyan electricity. This is probably what keeps him airborne; there's no way his wings, small in comparison to the rest of his body, would be able to lift that much muscle off of the ground by themselves.

Zekrom waves one arm to say hello to me – clearly he sees me watching him. His black skin starts glowing with sky-blue sparks, and he does a couple of somersaults in the air before zipping back to Reshiram. I grin and wave back as the two retreat deeper into the sky.

"Looks like he figured out his Fusion Bolt," Akumu murmurs, lowering his hand from his own greeting. "That's good. It's probably a lot easier with that motor in his tail, that's for sure."

"Hopefully they have a safe journey back," I mumble to myself.

Akumu hears this and responds anyway. "I'm sure they will. Zekrom and Reshiram can take care of themselves."

We return to the inside of the Pokemon Center, where all four of my Pokemon are still sound asleep, and safely at that. Eventually when they all wake up from their naps I take them out for a much-needed dinner, and then we return to the Pokemon Center for a long night's rest. Even Akumu doesn't rouse until the sun rises again the next morning.


	13. Final Chapter

The next thing we did was challenge the two Gyms we missed. The Water one in Pastoria City would have been easier with Zekrom and his Electric-type attacks, but it was simple enough with the Pokemon I had. After the long conflict with Team Galactic, just about any fight would seem easy now. With all of our worries about Team Galactic forgotten, we continued east and north to get to Veilstone City. Thankfully, the lake Akumu was concerned about before was entirely intact. It turns out the Galactic guys hadn't messed with it after all.

The road north to Veilstone was a little bit rocky, and my team was still sore from the hike up and down Mount Coronet yesterday, but we managed to make it to the city without more than a few scratches from battles with Trainers on the way. Akumu doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the Galactic base anymore. In fact, there are no grunts out and about in the city, either.

The battle at the Fighting gym goes smoothly as well. Searcher holds up well against the opponent Pokemon's attacks, and Gabrias's moves are powerful enough to take down his enemies in about two hits. Uma's venomous spikes prove fatal, and Aleta's endurance is impressive even against physically trained Pokemon. Before long I now have five badges in my case.

Our next task isn't to find a Gym, though. Akumu and I take the team all the way home back to Canalave, a journey that lasts a couple of days. However, there are no intense battles like there were with Reshiram and Team Galactic, so the walk back home is relatively relaxing.

I stop by the house and say hello to my parents again. I told them I was coming home, but like most parents they still respond to my presence rather melodramatically. I decide to introduce Akumu as one of my Pokemon, but I don't say what kind – I do allude to the fact that he has been here for a while, though. The Pokemon and I rest at the house for a while before we head for the shipyard.

No ships for Newmoon Island. That's a good sign. We'll stay here for a while and fight like we had for a while. If we can beat the legendary Pokemon Reshiram, surely we can convince a few humans that Newmoon Island isn't a place where they belong. Only Akumu and his family can belong there. But of course, Akumu belongs with me now. Maybe like I just did, he'll go back and visit his parents sometime.

"Hey, Lucidia." Akumu nudges me out of my imagination. I've been staring out at the ocean again – a habit I've had since I was little. "Do you want to go to the library? It's been forever since we went in there."

I blink slowly. "Sure… maybe we can read up on all of the legendary friends we've met."I glance at my four Pokemon, who are also looking over the ocean. The only differences among them is that Gabrias evolved again – he's even taller than me now, and with a considerably more humanoid shape. He also has more red and yellow across his front. His legs are thicker and his arms longer – generally his limbs have gotten more capable.

"What do you think?" I inquire. "Anything you guys want to know?"

Aleta shrugs. "We Pokemon can't read well, but I don't see why not."

Thus we begin our walk to the library.

"Hey, Uma," Searcher starts up, turning his cobalt eyes to the Seadra. "Gabrias is all fully evolved now, as am I… you still have one stage to go. Don't you want to evolve?"

Uma flicks his black eyes to Searcher and shrugs his shoulders. "Not really. I like my ears how they are." He points a slender finger to the fins that jut out of his jawbone where human ears would normally be. "Unless I get more spikes or more poison or something, I like myself how I am."

"Suit yourself…" Searcher instantly drops the subject.

We set foot back on solid ground just as the drawbridge behind us begins to rise. M Pokemon all turn to watch the bridges point to the sky, letting a giant sluggish boat underneath them. There _was_ a reason this city was called Canalave.

The library is a mainly vertical, three-story building overlooking the water just north of the Gym. (That's right, there is a Gym here – we'll have to go there before we leave.) It has a peaceful blue roof with earthy brown siding and several windows watching out of the walls. Akumu and my Pokemon enter slowly; our group is rather large, and we'd rather not interrupt anybody. Inside, the silence is as deafening as the pressure several miles below the surface of the ocean. Pages rustle occasionally as other patrons read their books or replace them on the shelves. Our destination is the top floor – the level with the most information on Sinnoh region mythology. Recent additions have been made, as well – there are now volumes of the history and myths of other regions also. The one that comes to my mind first is Unova, where Zekrom said that he and Reshiram lived before Team Galactic got involved. (Where was that place Zekrom wanted me to visit? Dragonspiral Tower, that was it.) Surely the mythology on Unova would mention something about Zekrom and Reshiram.

We climb the stairs to the top floor of the library – barely a challenge after spending so long trekking over Mount Coronet. There aren't very many people up here, which is nice.

Any talking that we do will have to be in whispers. If we want to scream or have fun, that will be outside. No use interrupting the suffocating atmosphere of the library.

I sit down with my Pokemon at one of the wide tables while Akumu plucks a volume from one of the shelves. Hopefully he has better reading skills than my other Pokemon, or we could end up looking at a whole lot of junk.

I open the book Akumu chose to the middle, which bears a long gallery of photographs and illustrations. All of these Pokemon look unfamiliar – this must definitely be a volume on Unova mythology. There are several legendary Pokemon depicted, from artists' interpretations to wall drawings like the ones in Celestic Town. Some look like they're riding on top of clouds; another is a weird robot-looking dragon with the tiniest arms I've ever seen on a Pokemon… except maybe for Gabrias when he was a little Gible. That sure was a long time ago.

I open to another page and hold my breath for a second. I recognize the black and white shapes circling the page: an artist's interpretation of Reshiram and Zekrom using their respective powers of fire and lightning. Zekrom looks just as enthusiastic as he did in real life, with his wide fingers spread far apart as he runs his tail engine to generate sky-blue sparks that jump around his shiny black body. He vaguely resembles a machine. Reshiram resembles his three-dimensional self as well: his ocean-blue eyes contain glinting conviction while his cloud-white fur flies everywhere in the flames surrounding his body. In this drawing, Reshiram and Zekrom appear to be fighting each other – a strange thought, given that they appeared to get along quite well after their fight at the top of Spear Pillar. Perhaps some of the relationship between the two halves was lost in translation between the worlds of Pokemon and human. After all, it wasn't as though Zekrom and Reshiram drew their own pictures or wrote their own stories. All they did was live their lives, and the humans around them would depict them in whatever way they wanted. It was interesting to see how people would translate the actions of Pokemon, even legendaries, into a language that their colleagues around them could understand.

According to the myth, Zekrom and Reshiram were originally the same Pokemon, controlled by a pair of twin brothers to create the entire Unova region. The one Pokemon eventually split into its two halves after the twins began to forge their own paths. One brother pursued hopes and ideals, thus creating Zekrom, while the other brought forth Reshiram by focusing on the truth and what really does exist. The leftovers of the previously united Pokemon were known as Kyurem, and this separate dragon Pokemon apparently lived somewhere far away and very cold. Zekrom never mentioned anything about Kyurem, but perhaps since this Pokemon was the remains of the original dragon, he didn't know it existed.

After exchanging whispering recollections of our old friend Zekrom, Akumu replaces the book on the shelf and pulled out a different one. This one pertains to the mythology of the Sinnoh region, with which I was considerably more familiar. However, now might be a good time to read up on the Azelf Pokemon that Akumu mentioned back in Pastoria City. He helps me locate the page pertaining to Azelf. As it turns out, Azelf has two sisters by the names of Uxie and Mesprit, who are the beings of knowledge and emotion respectively. Each of the fairy-like Pokemon lives in his or her own lake. The lakes are located in a triangle formation across the Sinnoh region, with the Lake of Verity (Mesprit's home) being just north of Twinleaf Town and the Lake of Acuity where Uxie resides being west of a city far to the north by the name of Snowpoint. I had never been to Snowpoint City, but doubtlessly my Pokemon training would take me there sometime very soon.

The three Pokemon Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf don't appear to have too many stories tied behind them as Zekrom and Reshiram do, apart from being created by some all-powerful Pokemon. After glancing over their article one more time, I turn to a set of pages that pertains to the legends of Darkrai and Cresselia. Akumu smiles almost mischievously as he notices the stories located in this article. Perhaps we're going to find some inaccurate human interpretation of what he does and laugh at it. Maybe Akumu could even write his own book… nah, Pokemon don't write books, they fight.

The Cresselia that Akumu mentioned before is in this book as well. Cresselia supposedly gives people good dreams by being around them, while Darkrai's presence gives people endless nightmares. Surely this can't be a hundred percent true, since Akumu has been walking around with me for years and I've never had any outstanding nightmares. The myth suggests that Darkrai can't control its ability to give people bad dreams (which is supposedly a defense mechanism), which is where Cresselia comes in. Cresselia's feathers will cure people of their Darkrai-afflicted nightmares when in close proximity. I can infer from the myth that Cresselia would travel around awakening people from their nightmares whenever Darkrai appeared and inflicted them. If there were several Darkrai and only one Cresselia, I can see how that would be a monotonous job. However, the book mentions nothing for either multiple Cresselias or just one. Perhaps people still don't know how many of the individual Pokemon there are. It must be hard to tell when the legendary Pokemon are so rare in the first place. You never know if you encounter the same one twice or a different individual. I know from Akumu's direct words, though, that there are at least a few different individual Darkrai living on Newmoon Island – otherwise he never would have mentioned having a family. Maybe I could write one of my own stories about walking around with a Darkrai, like a novel… would anybody want to read it?

I glance up at Akumu. An amused smile has been sitting on his face for a while now. It must feel strange to be reading in a book about what people think about you. He's probably laughing at the authors on the inside for portraying his existence in such a silly fashion. It's always been hard to tell exactly what Akumu is thinking just by looking at him, though. The one ice-blue eye that is constantly visible does a good job of concealing his emotions beneath its freezing shield until some sort of warm passion melts the frost. That hasn't happened much except when he has spoken to me.

"Does Cresselia sound the same in this book as she does when your parents told you about her?" I ask Akumu, doing my best to keep my voice at a whispery level.

He shrugs his shoulders. "Sort of. The way Pokemon say things is always going to be different from the ways humans say them. The other Darkrai made Cresselia seem a lot scarier than these humans do. Maybe you humans just see Cresselia as the hero and me as the antagonist."

I blinked – that was an interesting thought on perspective. "I guess we do. We always associate darkness with negativity, while light and good dreams always prevail. It must be different for you."

"It is," Akumu agrees, nodding slowly. "With Pokemon, there's no such thing as good or bad, protagonists or antagonists. Everything just exists how it does and nobody really questions it. They can make up myths as to why things how are they are, but we Pokemon never consider one side being 'bad' and the other being 'good.' That must be a result of you humans and your vanity trying to back up everything that you do and make it seem logical when it really isn't."

"I guess you're right." I fold the cover of the book back over. I wonder what Canalave City could have been like several hundred years ago before the humans got here. Were the Pokemon who lived here any different? Was there more water or land where the drawbridge is now? I guess we can never really find out, since nobody has invented a method of time travel as of yet. All we can do is be thankful for what we have, I guess, even if it is a result of our humanoid vanity.

I stand up and sweep my eyes over my Pokemon. "Who's up for a round at the Canalave City Gym?"

Uma and Searcher stretch their limbs simultaneously, but the Beedrill speaks first. "I sure am. It's been a while since I got any decent exercise from our fights. I hope the Pokemon are tough enough."

"I'd like a chance to practice my Water-type moves," Uma agrees, slowly rising to his feet.

Gabrias nods from his standing position behind Uma and Searcher. It's a miracle Pokemon his size are allowed in this library.

"I could always use more practice as well," Aleta adds on.

"Akumu? Would you like to try?" I inquire.

He shakes his head slowly. "Nah. Fighting isn't really for me. I'll just watch and wait until I can use my effort to keep your human friends' insanity in control." He smiles mischievously again.

"All right, then. Looks like we've reached an agreement. Shall we go?"

"Of course!" Searcher starts to dash down the stairs, but Aleta holds him back.

"No running," she murmurs to him with a playful smile in her amber eyes.

"You guys can run and fly and swim all you like once you get outside," I assure Searcher, and I lead my Pokemon out of the library. With such an expansive region as Sinnoh ahead of us, I'm sure my Pokémon will eventually get tired of running, flying and swimming… or maybe not. Pokémon sure do have a lot of stamina.


End file.
